Hendry's laser beam
If there's one thing we should know about Cubs GM Jim Hendry after all these years, it's that he tends to focus "like a laser beam," to use an old presidential campaign phrase, on what he wants every off-season.
The Hendry Laser Light Show legacy includes Lou Piniella, Dusty Baker, Milton Bradley, LaTroy Hawkins, Alfonso Soriano, Mike Remlinger and Kosuke Fukudome, to name a few. Hendry focused on getting those managers or players since taking over as GM in 2002. Some of them have been good, some not so good.
So it'll be interesting to see how hard Hendry goes after hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, who left the Texas Rangers yesterday after 15 mostly good seasons.
http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091014&content_id=74...
My gut says Hendry will pull out the lasers again and land Jaramillo or die trying. Even though first baseman Derrek Lee expressed his feelings on the last day of the season that hitting coaches are overrated, Hendry doesn't believe that at all. Lee is talented enough to know his own swing, and Cubs hitting coaches have pretty much left him alone. But others such, as Ryan Theriot, Geovany Soto, Mike Fontenot and even high-priced guys like Soriano, fall into patterns that a coach can get them out of in a few days.
The mlb.com article I've linked to above confirms that Jaramillo is under contract through Oct. 31 but that the Rangers will grant permission for other clubs to interview Jaramillo. I've put a call into Jim to see if he'll ask for that permission, but I've not heard back yet. I'll keep you posted.
I'm sure Jim would love to have Jaramillo aboard for the organization meetings next month.
There are some interesting parallels between the Cubs and Rangers from 2008 to 2009. In 2008, the Rangers led the major leagues in runs scored, with 901. They fell to 784 runs this year, seventh in the American League. The Cubs led the NL in runs scored in 2008, with 855. They fell to 707 this year, or 10th in the NL.
And here's an interesting quote:
"The main area that I'm most concerned with is the situational area. Team play. I think we were very inconsistent at that, and more than anything else, I think the players have to take the acceptance for not getting that done. But that's something we better harp on during spring training, to play to the situation of the ballgame."
Who said that? Lou? No. You don't see any sentences that begin with the word, "Look," in there, do you? The author of this quote was Rangers manager Ron Washington. Although the Rangers offered Jaramillo a one-year contract to return, there was some disappointment about the drop of runs and the number of walks and strikeouts. I blogged this last night, when word came out of Texas that Jaramillo wasn't going back:
http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/2738
Rangers batters led the AL in strikeouts (not necessarily a bad thing overall) and were 12th in walks. Whether you or I think strikeouts are overrated, because an out is an out no matter how it's recorded, the fact is Rangers president Nolan Ryan expressed concern with the high number of strikeouts and the number of walks.
A batting coach can't cure everything. Cleary, though, there are some guys on the Cubs who could use some help. We'll see what happens.
I also was asked on another blog about candidates from within the Cubs system. The Cubs will interview minor-league hitting coordinator Dave Keller. Former big-leaguer Richie Zisk has been in the Cubs system for many years, most recently as the hitting coach at Class A Daytona. Zisk has a great reputation. However, he's expressed his desire to stay in Florida near his family, and I'm not sure that's any different now.
I think you've offered some sobering thoughts re: Jarmillo here, Bruce. The very low walk rate of this year's Rangers team is a big red flag to me.
Plus, if Jaramillo is best at working with young hitters, well, who on the '10 Cubs will qualify under that heading? Soto, I guess. Maybe Baker? Otherwise, we're likely looking at a pretty veteran lineup - especially if a Bradley-bad-contract-swap goes through.
On the bright side, during the Rangers glorious '08 offensive season, they ranked No. 3 in the AL in walks, per baseball-reference. So it's hard to say what effect a pitching coach has on such a thing.
All in all, I certainly wouldn't see Rudy Jaramillo coming to the Cubs as a bad thing. He's a highly regarded pitching coach. But I wouldn't see it as a panacea either - I thought Phil Rogers REALLY oversold this idea when he said in a recent column that getting Jaramillo would be the best thing for the Cubs since signing Derrek Lee.
Oh, and last but not least, the $21 million question for you, Bruce: Could you in any way, shape or form see the Cubs signing Jaramillo as a precursor to the team RETAINING Milton Bradley?
That would be a stretch since almost every player in the clubhouse spoke out against Bradley after he left, and the manager wanted nothing more to do with him. I just can't see that working. Stranger things have happened, I guess.
But someone had to ask, so I figured I'd don the tinfoil hat. I wonder whether this idea may take root, though, if Hendry can't trade Bradley relatively quickly after the postseason is over.
With 2010 being Lou's last year (I can't really see an extension coming unless they at least get to the WS; yeah right) which coach is gonna want to come in for a longer term knowing a new manager almost always brings in his own coaches?
The Cubs have more pressing issues than a hitting coach.
Remember, Dusty Baker inherited Larry Rothschild. Jim Hendry fired Wendell Kim and hired Chris Speier and put him on Baker's staff. Lou Piniella inherited Larry Rothschild, and Hendry promoted Lester Strode and Mike Quade. Don Baylor inherited Jeff Pentland as hitting coach.
They may have more pressing issues than hitting coach, but they still need one, and they can't sign any other teams' free agents right now anyway.
Yes, Jim Henry has made some mistakes, but so have other GM's.
How about obtaining, Lilly, Dempster, Lee, Baker, Johnson, K.Hill, DeRosa and Grabow. Where would the Cubs be without these guys, and would they have been in 3 playoffs if he didn't get these guys. How soon we forget.
Shooting for a "Lefty" hitting OF Hendry's laser was dead on Milton the Mental while Lou's was on Seattle pal, Raul Ibanez, he of 34 HRs and a big blast for Phils tonight. Hendry missed that target pretty badly.
The first question that comes to mind is..... if Jaramillo is so good, why would the Rangers let him go? But I know the Rangers owner is almost broke and Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels are not always on the same page. Maybe Jaramillo wants out.
Bruce - What do you know about Jaramillo from your sources in other cities? What kind of guy is he? Does he have a big ego? Will he bump heads with successful veterans (Lee & Ramirez)? Will he try to implement his hitting philosophies throughout the organization and bump heads with Oneiri Fleita? Thanks!!
He comes highly regarded and is supposed to be good with young hitters. There aren't too many organizations, if any these days, that have a hitting coach implement a philosophy organization wide. From what I hear, Jaramillo tailors his work to the invidivual and that individual's needs.
LOL, we all agree, LOL.
plus 4 of the 5 players you mentioned were flops.......in my opinion.
Somebody needs to put a laser beam on Jim Hendry.
... get LASIK or something?
...and I have a feeling Ricketts will have someone peeling back the layers of the Cub's baseball organization and giving him advice of what needs fixing.
It is clearly time for Hendry to lose the Kryptonite shield he has been wearing for years now.
...Leo Mazzone could walk on water until he went to Baltimore and didn't have the HOF pitching staff anymore. With the Texas hitting coach, I believe you also have to factor in he is coaching in a hitter friendly park and a lot of players will have career years there.
I'm not saying he isn't a good hitting coach, but there are a ton of variables that go into this.
Not to say he's not a solid hitting coach, but many of the "great" hitters he's helped at Texas have been linked to PED's at various points in their careers. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not.
I think it's also worth noting, the laser beam isn't always just focused on particular people (Lou, Soriano, Baker, etc.) but it can also be focused on the general makeup of the team.
This past offseason, we just had to get more left handed, no matter the cost. So we trade DeRosa, give the second base job to the unproven Fontenot, and sign the nutjob Bradley.
In other offseasons, it's goals such as "getting guys who catch the ball" (which leads us to giving a multi-year extension for Neifi Perez or trading for Cesar Izturis), "reducing our strikeouts" (which leads us to trading for Juan Pierre), "addressing the bullpen" (which leads us to making Bobby Howry and Scott Eyre as our big offseason acquisitions), etc.
I lean more towards D. Lee's camp. Hitting coaches, pitching coaches, overrated.
Rob Neyer posted about this in his blog and posed the question: If half the teams in the game went without a hitting coach next season, would we be able to figure out which teams those were at the end of the season?
And I've always wondered....wouldn't it be better to have the best hitting coaches down in say, AA, or somewhere in the minors? The way it is now, players learn by minor league coaches, develop habits, only to have them changed when they get to the pro level. Doesn't make sense to me.
why not have the supposedly great hitting coaches teach them from the get go? (I understand the ego on these guys probably wouldn't allow it, but that's not the point).
Does he need some sort of a license for having that laser beam?
Mark me down for hoping Rudy goes to the Mets and is lost there for three or four years. I think he'd help Geo but I worry about what he'd do to the young hitters coming up through the system.
I like internal candidates or a younger coach who is going to bring something new to the table of the coaching staff.
My pet sharks. I mean, I have one simple request here, people. And that is to have sharks with laser beams attached to their heads. Somebody throw me a bone here.