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Some things to read while getting rid of old appliances.
We’re still more than a week away from the start of free agency, but the Milwaukee Brewers made their largest addition of the offseason to date when they hired former Tigers assistant hitting coach Darnell Coles as their new hitting coach on Thursday.
Coles is 52 and played 14 seasons in the big leagues between 1983-97 as a member of eight teams, including six years over two tours of duty with the Mariners. More recently, he was a roving minor league hitting instructor for the Brewers in 2010 and 2011 and managed the Double-A Huntsville Stars in 2012 and 2013. He was slated to manage Triple-A Nashville in 2014 before being hired away by the Tigers.
Coles inherits a Brewers offense that finished sixth in the National League in runs scored and fifth in team OPS (on-base plus slugging) in 2014, but struggled to remain consistent during the team’s extended struggles. He has some experience working with a handful of the Brewers’ young talent, as Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett and Jean Segura all passed through Huntsville while Coles was managing there.
And, if at least one prominent Brewers writer is correct, Coles’ managerial days aren’t over yet:
I don’t like predictions, but here’s one: Darnell Coles will manage a Major League team someday. Teaches work ethic. Players love him.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) October 23, 2014
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a pair of Brewers were honored for their work in the field. Jonathan Lucroy and Gerardo Parra have both been named as finalists for 2014 National League Gold Gloves, with Lucroy seeking to be the first Brewers catcher ever so honored (h/t @joe_block) and Gerardo Parra looking to win for the third time. Parra was nominated as right fielder despite playing in just seven games out there as a Brewer after coming over from the Diamondbacks. He was Arizona’s only finalist .
Carlos Gomez won a Gold Glove in center field in 2013 but will not repeat this season, as he was not among the three nominees for the award. This year, voters preferred Billy Hamilton of the Reds, Juan Lagares of the Mets and Denard Span of the Nationals. None of those three have received this award before.
For what it’s worth, the defensive metrics agree with the voters’ decision to leave Gomez out. @AndrewGruman notes that FanGraphs credited Gomez with 38 runs saved in his award-winning 2013 season but just two this season.
Elsewhere in honors, on Thursday, Brew Crew Ball readers selected Kyle Lohse as the fourth-most valuable member of the 2014 Brewers, and JP wrote his profile. Lohse was also fourth in last year’s rankings (more on last year’s rankings later).
As of this writing, three pitchers (Francisco Rodriguez, Yovani Gallardo and Mike Fiers) are all within seven votes of each other in the balloting for the fifth spot in that project. You have until noon today to cast your vote.
Perhaps a year from now, a new Brewers first baseman can be among the team’s most valuable players. Derek Harvey of Brew Crew Ball has a look at three pending free agents: Adam LaRoche of the Nationals, Michael Morse of the Giants and Michael Cuddyer of the Rockies, and has a poll asking which one you’d prefer the Brewers sign.
In the minors:
- Wei-Chung Wang had a solid outing in the Arizona Fall League on Thursday, pitching four innings and allowing a single unearned run on three hits in Glendale’s 2-1 win over Peoria (box score). First baseman Nick Ramirez went 0-for-4 in the game.
- Meanwhile in Venezuela, shortstop Orlando Arcia went 1-for-3 with a walk and his third home run of the fall in Caribes’ 4-2 win over Magallanes (box score). Arcia is one of just four players in that league with three home runs.
- Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs rated Arcia second among all Caribbean League position players in his SCOUT+ statistic, which uses home run, walk and strikeout rates to identify interesting prospects.
- Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has some highlights from Baseball America’s 2014 Draft Report Card for the Brewers featuring players who could appear as members of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2015.
Closer to home, Miller Park is full of screaming fans on a somewhat regular basis during the summer, but the fan volume will likely be turned up a notch on Aug. 25 when One Direction visits the stadium for the first time. Caitlin Moyer has details on how to get tickets.
At the link above, you can see a picture of the five-member band wearing Brewers jerseys to promote the upcoming appearance. Bill Hanstock of SB Nation has a collection of the highlights and lowlights from this and similar promotional photos of One Direction members wearing (or not wearing) other teams’ apparel.
If you’d like more Brewers coverage today but you’re sick of reading, I’ll be appearing on The Sports Den with Downtown Ollie Burrows on Sports Fan 100.5 in Wausau at 5:30 p.m. today. Follow that link to listen in live.
Around baseball:
Braves: Hired former Indians and Rangers general manager John Hart as their new president of baseball operations.
Giants: Are expected to extend a qualifying offer to third baseman Pablo Sandoval.
Mets: Hired former Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long to the same position.
Phillies: Re-signed outfielder Grady Sizemore to a one-year deal worth $2 million.
Pirates: Signed pitcher Josh Stinson to a minor league deal.
Rockies: Fired pitching coach Jim Wright and assistant pitching coach Bo McLaughlin.
Stinson was a Brewer briefly at the end of the 2012 season, making six appearances and one start as a September callup.
Tonight, the baseball world’s attention will shift to San Francisco, where the Giants host the Royals in Game 3 of the World Series. Jeremy Guthrie is scheduled to face Tim Hudson for a 7:07 p.m. first pitch, and you can catch all the action on FOX.
Today’s former Brewer making headlines during the series is Royals outfielder Norichika Aoki, who may be benched for Game 3 after some recent defensive misadventures in right field. Aoki has been lifted for a defensive replacement frequently during the postseason.
Elsewhere in former Brewers:
- Now you can own your own diagram of the action following Travis Ishikawa’s walkoff home run to win the NLCS for the Giants, via Etsy (h/t McCovey Chronicles). I have the 6-4-3 print by the same artist hanging in my office.
- Paul Casella of Sports on Earth listed both Rick Dempsey and Francisco Rodriguez on his top 10 list of the most unlikely World Series heroes.
- Harlan Spence of Yankees blog Pinstripe Alley gave CC Sabathia a D-minus grade for his contributions after he was able to make just eight appearances for New York in 2014, and says “the Yankees should view anything they get from CC Sabathia in 2015 as icing on the cake.”
- Earlier I mentioned the ongoing project to select 2014’s 10 most valuable Brewers at Brew Crew Ball. This week’s edition of the Thursday Thinker asks you to think back a year and remember the 10 players who made that list in 2013.
Today in baseball economics: Cork Gaines of Rays Index has the math suggesting that the Rays could receive as much as $80-100 million per season when their next television deal comes through. They currently get just $20 million annually.
Finally, with help from Brewerfan.net and the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- 2014 Nashville Sound Lucas May, who turns 30.
- 2002 Brewer Mike Matthews, who turns 41.
Today is also the 44th anniversary of the Brewers signing future reliever, scout and pitching coach Bill Castro as an amateur free agent in 1970. Follow the link for that event’s entry in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have plans for today.
Drink up.
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