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It's gotta be Hoiles as his replacement. That would be awesome.

Cannot believe Samuel survived his mid-seaon outburst and questionable decision making...

Jauss, his decision or the team's?

Samuel back??? I really hoped he was going to be replaced. He set back 3rd base coaching by 75 years.....
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Team's decision. - Roch

Well, if they are intent on keeping Juan Samuel, at least minimize the damage. How about moving him to 1st base coach instead of 3rd? He wouldn't have to be involved in split-second running decisions, and could focus on taking the batters helmet at first and handing it to the batboy.

Schoolman,
I posted background information about Jauss to point out that he wasn't "chopped liver." I thought he qualified for the position, but maybe I was wrong, and he isn't up to being a bench coach.

Can you tell us why you sniffed it out? Was there a conflict of personalities?
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Can't really say much more about it. I just knew a change was coming. - Roch

Not happy about Crowley and Samuel returning. I suppose we can brace ourselves for another season of undisciplined hitting and baserunning.

Roch

What is a bench coach responsible for? I believe the last two have been fired (Tom Trebelhorn) and now jauss
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Not sure of his complete duties, but he's there to assist the manager in making game decisions. Like a right-hand man. And Jauss always copied down the lineup and posted it (which might not sound like much, but it has to be 100 percent accurate or you run into problems, as the Rays found out earlier this season).

It seems like they might want someone with managerial experience who could take over for Trembley if we're struggling at the all-star break next year. Bad sign that it's October and I'm already starting to feel sorry for Trembley. It seemed like Juan Samuel ran us into several outs last year, but I don't pay that much attention to other third-base coaches, and obviously our outfielders were throwing someone out while they were racking up those assists.
Could Millar have a future as a bench coach?
Also, how much, if at all, has Melvin damaged his reputation in the organization with his comments about being disrespected this year? I'd hoped he'd be our third-base coach in a few years if he could get time away from the kiddies.

Shocked to see Juan Samuel will stay with the team after his shoddy performance at 3rd base last season.

Dude, dont tell me Juan Samuel & Terry Crowley are coming back. Samuel must have cost us 20+ runs last year. Crowley has been w/ this club for all 11 of its losing seasons & there has been little improvement w/ the team over the years. This ownership group is never going to get it right....grrr

JML,

Chris Hoiles is a nice guy, but what has he done to warrant being the bench coach for a MLB level club? It sounds like another handout to one of the good ol' boys to me. I guess you think he is deserving b/c he was one of your favorite players?

The Role of the Bench Coach

Interview with Joe Pettini

By Brian Walton

Those of us with a few miles on our frames remember the days before the invention of the bench coach. For others, when one hears the term, the image of Popeye (a.k.a. The Gerbil), Don Zimmer, immediately comes to mind. Think of the respected former manager, in his twilight years, sitting at the manager’s side, ready to whisper sage words of advice into his ear.

Well, the St. Louis Cardinals have one of these new/old-age coaches, too. But, while Joe Pettini’s role is very different from Zimmer’s was with the Yankees, it is no less important. In fact, I assure you that after reading this interview, you will be as surprised as I was about the depth of Pettini’s involvement in preparation of the team each day. It’s a lot more than the guy perched on the top step of the dugout with a stop watch or the rubber-armed batting practice hurler with the whip-like throwing motion.

Joe Pettini is a relative Johnny-come-lately on a coaching staff known for continuity. While he is starting just his third season as Tony La Russa’s bench coach, Pettini has been with the organization for a long time. He managed eight years in the Cardinal minor league system and served as minor league field coordinator from 1997-2001.

I caught up with Joe last weekend in Montreal.

BW: The bench coach is kind of a new position in baseball. What are your responsibilities?

JP: Mainly my responsibility when first getting here is to help set up the day’s routine, as far as the BPs, get the stretch times, set up the groups. Once the game begins, I’ve said that the bench coach’s role changes depending on the manager. When you have somebody who is relatively a newer type of manager here in the big leagues, they might rely on a bench coach more so than someone who has been around as long as Tony. But, you know, he still has a lot of questions during the game as far as pitcher’s time to the plate – our guys, their guys - whether you can take advantage of the running game or keeping the other team from using the running game against us.

The main job I do during the course of the game is help set up the infield positioning. I get together with Dave Duncan prior to every series to go over how we’re exactly going play each hitter in the infield, depending on whether he’s against a right hander or a left hander. What I do is I set it up in order and I go over it with each infielder before the series starts and during the games if they have any questions about where they are or where they should be. You can move them here or there or wherever Duncan wants them to play. Basically, that’s about it except for one thing – that’s taking care of the lineup card. That’s the easy part. (laughs)

BW: When you need to make a defensive adjustment during the game, how is that given to the player?

JP: Well, you know, basically, all these guys are pretty good. They want to be sure to be in the right spot. What I did the first year in all the ballparks, I brought a digital camera and took a picture from the dugout. I had Jose Oquendo go out and I mark on the picture that I keep in the computer in a folder for each team. So, I know exactly from where I am sitting on the bench if the second baseman is playing a right hander straight away because of the mark on the wall of the stadium behind him. So, I’ll know if he is out of position and there’s signs to where these guys know, depending on the pitcher, depending on the count, and how a hitter is going, they might make a slight adjustment themselves, too, which is ok. Just because we tell them to play straightaway, doesn’t mean that if they bring in somebody and they get behind in the count, that they can’t go ahead and maybe shade him a step or two the other way thinking that he is not going to be as aggressive of a hitter.

BW: That’s surprising. So, you actually use geometry for defensive positioning?

JP: Yeah, it makes it look simpler. I took pictures of all the fields from the second base side and through the shortstop side. That way, we don’t have to do it every time we come in and have Jose go out there and have me mark down the spots. We have it on the computer, so that way when we go to a city, I can bring it up, print out the picture and I put it in my folder that I keep on the bench. That way, I know exactly where these guys should be.

BW: So, that also affects where you stand during the game, then?

JP: Yes, I have to take the same position. Otherwise, it’s going to change on you. I make notations on the pictures themselves where the lines are going to go from straightaway up to some point, whether it is on the wall, the stadium steps or scoreboard. And then, I make a notation on the bottom where I’ll be sitting. Usually, you can remember where you sit, but just in case…

BW: A lot of times at home I see you’re pretty much perched with one foot on the top step. Is that your spot?

JP: Right. That’s the spot where I know. At home, you kind of memorize everything. So you know exactly, through the shortstop, through the second baseman, where they should be playing against a right-handed hitter or a left-handed hitter, because they vary. A left-handed hitter playing straightaway is just a couple of steps over from where a right-hander should be. At times, we’ll plan to where we’ll play maybe a step towards the middle or a couple of steps toward the middle when we’ll play a dead pull and sometime as you can tell, against Berkman, such guys that are strong pull hitters, we’ll even have a shift.

BW: How often do you determine whether to change the defense for a hitter?

JP: Dunc keeps a lot of stuff. I keep a lot of things. Every year that I’ve been here, I’ve kept a chart on the computer of every playable ball that was hit by each hitter. I’ll have a diagram for each hitter, whether it was against a right handed or left handed pitcher. And Dunc does the same thing. He just gets all his information. You know, it’s not a science. It’s not black and white. But, it gives you really good tendencies on where you should be playing some people. And, of course, it doesn’t always work out well. But, over the long haul, I think that when you pay attention to the data that you have on certain hitters, in the long run, you’re going to be better off by watching these things, positioning the infielders as opposed to where the guy is hitting the ball.

BW: You have a stopwatch during the game. Are you timing the pitcher’s move to the plate?

JP: Basically, with our guys, when I’m timing our pitchers, it’s just to let Tony know if a guy starts to slow up. Usually, if a pitcher once he leaves the set position can get the ball to the catcher in 1.3 seconds or less, then the catcher has at least some kind of a chance to throw out a base stealer. If he starts getting above 1.3, then starts creeping up to 1.4 or between 1.4 and 1.5, these are mostly right handed pitchers, then the running game becomes a little easier to go ahead and try. So, if Tony wants to know if our pitcher starts to slow up; that way, he can have him throw over or he can let the catcher know to have him quicken up a little bit. Because, basically, when you manage or are coaching, you are trying to keep the other club from taking advantage of you. And the flip side is that if the other club’s pitcher starts to slow up or have some slow times or their breaking pitch is overly slow, and you get a breaking ball count, you can take a chance on sending a guy and maybe stealing a base on a breaking ball.

BW: When you see a pitcher slow down, is that always later in the game, when they are tired?

JP: It happens a lot late in the game when guys get tired, but pitchers are a different breed and basically for these guys at this level to pitch the way they are capable, to pitch the way they want to, to have that command where they are going to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate, to try to hit the corners and come off the plate, they need a lot of rhythm. And if guys have to quicken up because the other club is running, trying to steal bases, it takes them out of their game a little bit. And all of a sudden, your command isn’t there, you get behind a little in the count and then you get some pitches to hit and drive in some runs. Like you said, later is a big thing. When they do get tired, some guys will slow up a lot.

BW: Do you provide input to Duncan at times when he is considering a pitching change?

JP: Well, not really for pitching changes. Tony’s the manager and he’s going to take care of that. He relies a lot on Dunky. He’ll ask Dunc a lot of questions but when it comes down to the final decision, Tony makes it. As far as pitching changes, that is handled by Dave and Tony.

BW: So, you keep track and share the information when you see something or they want it?

JP: Right. What we do is I keep track of, for every club and every pitcher, I keep track of the times over the course of a period with fastballs, with runners at first base, how quick they are when they throw a fastball and how quick they are when they throw an off-speed pitch. I do the same thing when they are at second base. At second base, you don’t have to be as quick, naturally, because it is a shorter throw to third base when you’re trying to steal. But, I keep all that and when we go into a town, and every pitcher that is on that roster, I will make sure that they have all that data on the bench and they’ll know who the starters are and what their times are. And if they bring in a reliever, especially as a lot of left-handed relievers will be awfully slow, even though they are deceptive with runners at first, sometimes they keep that slow time when they are at second, which makes it possible to steal. So, whenever they bring in a reliever, we will have times already there so we can look them up and say, “Well, he’s anywhere between 1.3 and 1.5 or even slower. If you want to run, here is the time to take a chance.

BW: It is surprising to me, even as a person who follows baseball closely, as to the amount of preparation that goes into the game.

JP: What’s so good about the game of baseball is that it’s pitching, it’s fielding, it’s hitting, but any little thing that you can take advantage of, can help win a game. And on the flip side again, any thing you can keep another club from taking advantage of, may possibly keep them from scoring a run or two and keeping you in a game or keeping you on top.

BW: Thank you for your time.

JP: No problem.

Really surprised Samuel is returning to coach 3rd base. Some speculated him moving to the bench and shifting Shelby to 3rd. Is this a possibility or is confirmed that everyone will be returning to their 2009 roles?

I know you told jackdunn'sbaby you "can't say much more about it." Can you tell us maybe what Trembley/the O's will be looking for in a bench coach that maybe Jauss didn't provide?
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I haven't gotten any further details. Could be something as simple as more of a comfort level with the bench coach. - Roch

After the improvement in Pie alone, you'd think people would be happier with the job Crowley did this year.
But, I would be curious to see OBPs for the hitters that we've signed as free agents, before and after working with Crowley. We haven't drawn many walks the past few years, but Jones seemed considerably more disciplined a hitter already in his second year--not swinging at every slider low and away. Judging from Markakis' patience, even as a rookie, I'd say drawing walks is not entirely a learned skill, some guys can do it, other guys can't.

Bench Coach:

The guy that yells 'lollygaggers'.

Correction please I see a glaring typo.

You indicated that Juan Samuel is returning. That can't be right. Please double check your sources. Unless Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa are going to serve as bench coaches I don't see how we got better coachingwise 2009 to 2010.

Good grief.

To quote someone else... "Way to to ANDREW"

The O's havent had more than 600 BB's in a season since 1999. I wonder what Crowley's explanation for this is??

MASN Numbers are out... Orioles out performed Nationals in the DC area 16,000 to 14,000. Not bad. The Nationals are the worst in baseball... shock right?

We keep hearing that when it comes to fundamentals, the players are responsible, the team isn't going to run drills for things they should know already, etc.
So my question is, didn't the players used to have a way to deal with these things among themselves ? And now don't, apparently ?

In defense of our batters: It's difficult to do the right thing (have patience) at the plate when the umps are so bad that you can't count on a strike being a strike. And I hate stupid batting; I can be found at the Tides games screaming "Would it kill you to look at one ?!?" on a regular basis. When the umps feel free to award strikes based on who is pitching/batting rather than objective criteria - look at where the damn ball actually is, you bums - and the commentators all parrot the MLB company line as though that is perfectly acceptable, it's just more evidence that the umpiring will be allowed to continue to deteriorate. Cue the UmpBots.

Is there any chance that Samuel will switch to being the bench coach?
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I don't think so. I never heard anyone in the organization even hint that Samuel could move into the dugout. - Roch

buddy,
On time with the goods; nicely done.
Thanks,
jdb

Brian, Cereal Blogger, or anyone unhappy with Juan Samuel:

I need help on Samuel's mistakes this year. I remember errors in sending, or holding runners; did Samuel exceed the number of mistakes expected by a third base coach during an average season by a margin so huge that the villagers would have been justified to get out their pitchforks and to go all ugly on the poor guy?

I recall:
- Samuel appearing indifferent to Brian Roberts as Brian rounded third with one out and a pop up losing altitude,
- the classic play in Minnesota when Young Felix, on a foul pop up near the first base dugout, which ended in an out at third; and,
- the classic play when Pie, running from first on a ball hit to right, seemed to be ad-libbing after he passed second, looked in the direction of third and retraced his steps ... .

Were there foul ups, which did not involve indispensable contributions by the runners?

Samuel? The windmill? Really?

I would rather dress up a doll in an Orioles uniform and put it out in the box.

American League outfielders must all be celebrating this move right about now.

JDB's Jauss CV yesterday was proof that the guy is more than qualified to be a top assistant.

But ultimately ANDREW made him the fall guy for the 98 loss season?

UNBELIEVABLE!

This is a knee jerk reaction. A " we need to fire someone and Samuel and Crow are in my good graces" reaction. A "someone needs to be held accountable for this mess and it sure isn't going to be me!" reaction.

Another pathetic decision from an incompetent front office.

Samuel and Crow were a part of the problem last year. Their poor coaching was put on display on a daily basis.

ANDREW had a chance to make some sweeping changes. He FAILED with the manager change and now he has FAILED with the coaching changes. The status quo continues.

WAY TO GO ANDREW MACFAIL!
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I know you'd rather just dump on MacPhail, but he didn't just make this decision on his own without talking to Trembley. - Roch

Is this sort of a "somebody's head has to roll" firing? Because really? The bench coach? I mean, everyone else seemed to have their place where he did, but still seems like a firing to try to please the masses. Next in line -- Surhoff? Hoiles? Maybe someone with a little more experience?

Hey! Snyder hit a 2 run shot to center! Way to go, Snyder!

Can someone give me one reason, just one, to keep Juan Samual.

Stop speculating and get the facts about Jauss. How hard can it be?
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Excuse me? You want to rephrase that? - Roch

bumblebee said:

Well, if they are intent on keeping Juan Samuel, at least minimize the damage. How about moving him to 1st base coach instead of 3rd? He wouldn't have to be involved in split-second running decisions, and could focus on taking the batters helmet at first and handing it to the batboy.
October 13, 2009 4:14 PM

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Not a good idea. We'd never get anyone to 2B unless they doubled. paying attention & yelling "BACK" & knowing the # of outs might be too much to expect.

Question, Roch:

Are the Orioles really bringing back all but one of the coaches from the previous year? Or is this just a joke? Last year's flaws went deeper than the players, the coaching stunk too. This to me is like the equivalent of bringing back our entire team next year with the exception of replacing Jeff Fiorentino with Jeff Reboulet.

Roch,

I think duke of york's meds just wore off.

Really don't know what to make of the Crow. I applaud him for working with Pie, and some that appears to be paying off. However, plate patience is not somethinng the O's have exhibited in the past (recent past). But then again, players have some accountability here to. I mean Paul O'Neill didn't suddenly learn plate patience when he left the Reds for the Yankees. Sometimes got to keep things in perspective.

Ugh!

The one change I wanted ( as well as everyone else) didn't happen.

Already a bit pessimistic on next year. :(

Roch - why are you reluctant to release details of the Jauss situation? Was some of your insight from off-the-record discussions with people in the know?

Schmuck said weeks ago that from what he was hearing Jauss was going to be the one going.

I'm not trying to be flip, just wondering about the difference in approach?
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I just wasn't comfortable writing that while Jauss still had the job. Figured it could make for an uncomfortable situation - for him and Trembley. Not saying one approach is right or wrong, that's just how I chose to play it. I knew one change was coming, and thought maybe Samuel would leave on his own if another offer was out there. That's why I said maybe two. Jauss I was 99 percent sure about. What I was hearing late in the season was off the record, so I wasn't going to write it then or now. - Roch

How about moving Juan Samuel to the batboy position? Although I can envision him handing someone the fungo bat as they head to the plate with the game on the line.

Roch,
Again, I beseech you: Please announce to everyone calling for Chris Hoiles to join the coaching staff that it is likely that Chris will be otherwise engaged in his new enterprise. Please.

I vote Frank Robinson as bench coach. Or Brooks Robinson. Or Smokey Robinson. Or even the new First GrandMa, Marion Robinson. I really don't care, just get us a damn Robinson.
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Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. - Roch

Roch,
As a professional entertainer, I must give you kudos on your sense of humor all season. It helps us remember that this is, indeed, a game. But, your line in the post that I'm looking at now, "Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson," is pure genius. Keep up the good, and funny work.
And, when you get time, get someone over to Brummie's house and have him committed to a qualified Rubber Room Facility. He's certifiable. I'm sure that soon, he will blame our general manager for global warming.

I'm seriously convinced that Terry Crowley has pictures of someone in power in a rather compromising position. I'm REALLY disappointed that he's going to be allowed to continue on for another season. *sigh*

Add me to the list of those hoping Samuel got the axe. Alas.

I don't see how you can come off of a 98-loss season, knowing you're going to be judged on wins and losses next year, and only get rid of one coach.

Your integrity is appreciated. Off the record should stay off the record, for better or worse (but I'm assuming its usually for the better). Integrity is one of the biggest reasons besides that smile in your blog photo that I turn to you first.

The third base coach position clearly needs an upgrade. A number of those who have made comments have observed the same problem. If DT can't see it, I hope he gets the hint.

While we can do without Jauss, but it is extremely important who takes his position...Look what Zimmer did for Torre, it can make a difference. So who do you want.... Dempsey, Hoiles, how about Buck Martinez. Think Dave Johnson (not the pitcher) would consider? Naa! McGregor? There are lots of choices to consider but I hope it's thought out and not just given to a lackey...

THe new bench coach will be somebody still currently in the playoffs and w/a catching background....Tony Pena