Article: What To Make Of Coaching Staff Decisions?

[Nick Nelson]

Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are in their first week on the job heading up the Minnesota Twins baseball department, but already they have made a few waves.

 

In particular, I'm talking about the coaching staff shakeup that took place earlier this week.On Tuesday night, amidst the chaotic election frenzy, the Twins announced that they would be parting with hitting coach Tom Brunansky and first base coach Butch Davis, while the rest of Paul Molitor's instructive unit would remain intact.

 

That means that Neil Allen will return as pitching coach. This is rather surprising for a couple of different reasons.

 

Firstly, because Allen oversaw a staff this year that ranked as the worst in baseball and one of the worst in franchise history. Almost without exception every Twins pitcher underperformed.

 

And secondly, because Falvey carries a reputation as a pitching guru with his own distinct philosophies on teaching and development. If he was going to come aboard with any particular directive in mind as far as the coaching group is concerned, one would think it would be a change at this position.

 

However, the new Chief Baseball Officer is evidently impressed enough with Allen. And although the results from Twins pitchers hardly could have been worse this year, there is some evidence that Allen may have been handcuffed to some degree in implementing his ideologies.

 

Last month, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press wrote an article on the team's widespread issues with fastball command. Within the piece, Allen had a rather interesting quote. Speaking about the way the sinking two-seam fastball, specifically, is handled with pitching prospects, the pitching coach said, "That's something that throughout the whole system needs to be addressed ... Big time."

 

Berardino adds:

Toward that end, Allen spent extra time in late September crafting a systemwide pitching plan that would govern the way young Twins arms are brought along. Allen, whose status for next season remains unclear along with the rest of the big-league coaching staff, presented his detailed program to Molitor before heading home after the season.

 

So it sounds like, even with his job in limbo, Allen was still proactively working to address the organization's deep-running issues with pitcher development. And Falvey is on board.

 

In a Q&A piece from David Laurilia published on FanGraphs this week, Allen goes into great depth regarding several elements of pitching instruction. In his answers, the former Rays minor-league coach speaks almost nostalgically about his time in the Tampa system. But, as he points out, the core directives "come from the higher-ups. The general manager, the manager, and the pitching coordinator would get together and start the program."

 

Now, with new higher-ups in place, perhaps Allen can better recreate the outstanding results that the Rays were able to produce with young arms during his time there.

 

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[Willihammer]

I feel like the Twins, at least publicly, have emphasized fastball command / first pitch strikes for as long as I've been a fan.

[Heinie Manush]

And, remember, Allen came out of the highly thought of Rays organization.

[mazeville]

I take all coaching moves this offseason with a big grain of salt because Molitor is still around and Falvey just started. Give this another year and we'll see how things stand. 

 

Beyond that, it's clear that something isn't clicking with Twins pitchers in the minor leagues. And regardless of who is the pitching coach at the major league level it's difficult to craft a winning staff with young pitchers who can't locate a fastball.

[Mike Sixel]

The fact they hired Allen, and did not immediately have him run the philosophy for the whole org speaks volumes about their leadership structure, and ability to have a PROCESS that works. 

 

Let's hope they have an actual leader for pitching now. 

[KirbyDome89]

I'm not shocked that we haven't seen turnover. When you rebuild a vehicle you don't throw out every old part, you find out which are still viable and roll from there. I think that same approach applies here, but I'm hopeful the assessment period doesn't take long. 

 

I said it in another thread, but Molitor's comments about fundamentals at the minor league level being a major cause for the struggles this season bothered me. Do they need work? Yes, that is abundantly clear. Would an improvement help this team? No doubt. However, I'll ask the same question I did in the other thread. If the fundamentals of the young players are that bad in the minors, then why is he bringing them up when its obvious they can't succeed? If they aren't as bad in the minors, then why are they suddenly getting worse when players reach the majors? 

 

I feel like the stories with Allen fall into the same category. The fact that the Twins failed to heed his warnings about the failings of the pitching philosophy at the minor league level is certainly is an indictment on the organization. However, a vast majority of the pitchers he worked with in the rotation and the bullpen weren't guys who moved up from the minors this season. These were players he was able to work with every day at the big league level, and they were awful. 

 

To me it feels like these guys are just passing the buck. It looks like a bunch of finger pointing and nobody wants to take responsibility for the failings of their own department. Was TR an evil dictator who would micromange the team from organizational philosophy all the way down to roster and lineup decisions; or is it more likely that these two played their own important roles in the disaster that was the 2016 season? 

 

If the Twins want to give Molitor another year, I disagree, but go for it. If they're encouraged by Neil Allen and want him back I can live with that right now. It just would be nice to see some of the blame for last season be owned by the current group rather than shoveled into the grave of the previous regime.

[Blake]

Hmm, new pitching coach and Allen becomes the new pitching coordinator for the Twins organization? (if there is such a thing)*

 

*sheesh, need reading comprehension lessons. Right there in the article "pitching coordinator" is mentioned.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Blake

[DocBauer]

You know, as disappointing as last season was, as poor as the pitching appeared to be, the truth is I'm not sure we know enough about Allen to make an accurate judgement.

 

We didn't have a problem with him in 2015 when we won/were competitive. Injuries and some weird personnel decisions along with poor performance all lead to a horrible 2016. But how much falls on Allen's shoulders is probably hard to say at this time.

 

I don't know how long a leash Allen has, but his doctrine says some good things. And I'd like to believe Garvey and Levine know more ML personnel than just those on their past teams. Perhaps they simply know more about Allen and some of the decisions made last year than we do. You have to hope so at least.

[TJW]

Do you think organization wide, they discouraged teaching players like Buxton how to bunt?  He tried to bunt at least once every at bat, but never made contact most of the time.  

[operation mindcrime]

Hmm, new pitching coach and Allen becomes the new pitching coordinator for the Twins organization? (if there is such a thing)*

 

*sheesh, need reading comprehension lessons. Right there in the article "pitching coordinator" is mentioned.

He needs to coordinate with Uber for a ride home! \m/

[ShouldaCouldaWoulda]

I think that we should note how much Falvey has been considered a pitching mechanics and philosophy guru, soooooo....in theory, Allen might be the perfect pitching coach for him. Why? Because he doesn't have the clout or recent success to buck anything, as he will be exited that he's even being brought back and that he best listen and follow Falvey's lead. If Falvey wants his hands in any of the pitching stuff, it might make it more difficult to get someone on board with pre existing philosophies and ways of doing things.

[bustedstuff88]

Id like to get everyones thoughts on Bruno's dismissal....

[DocBauer]

anyone else just deplore auto correct after you re-read some of your own posts? lol

[USAFChief]

anyone else just deplore auto correct after you re-read some of your own posts? lol

I used to, but I found a simple fix: I never re-read my own posts.

[HitInAPinch]

 

Id like to get everyones thoughts on Bruno's dismissal....

Personally, I don't agree with Bruno's dismissal. 

He got Dozier out of a early season funk and into a 40 HR season.

He worked with Buxton and got him looking like a MLB hitter towards the end of the season. 

Also, late in the year, he got Sano to start using a more level swing.  His upper-cut swing became so profound, umpires stopped calling STRIKE and would yell FORE instead  

[Jordan1212]

Well we all know why brunansky is gone when our lineup hits .220 that's why and with Allen obviously he had no control of the pitching system why is because Terry Ryan and now that he is gone we can finally get away from every pitcher we have throwing a sinker wonder why were so bad is because every pitcher we have looks the same they all throw 88-91 sinker it's just ridiculous

[Rosterman]

Bruno did have success in the minors. Not sure what they are looking for, considering you have Hernandez and Vavra, not to mention Molitor to give batting and base-running advice. I would love to see Bruno be the system hitting corrdinator, if possible. Chad Allen might be the call-up? The next season will be nteresting to see what happens with field management and coaching, and if the Twins stay within (people like Mauer, Dougie M., Tommy Watkins and all the other former Twins getting jobs from Valentin, Dinkleman, Toby Gardenhie and such). If the problem is the minors, then do we have a house-cleaning of the minors THIS YEAR!? Also, who sets the standards for batting? How much say does Molitor, who has a pretty good idea on how to hit, have in the matter.

 

 

[Dave The Dastardly]

I wouldn't call the dismissal of two coaches a "shake-up". And dismissing Bruno but retaining Allen who's pitching staff owned the bottom of the major leagues smacks of illogical thinking for two guys supposedly into analytics. Hey, you're either into using data or you're not. If you are, Allen should've been out the door ahead of Bruno.

 

Neither have I been impressed with the new management's degree that their plan is to build a team that consistently does well over the long term. Jeez! What a revolutionary concept! I bet there isn't another team in baseball that ever thought of doing that. If it's first occurring to the Twins organization I guess we were even further behind the ball than I thought.

 

And they're going to add an experienced free agent player for "leadership"? How about adding a guy who can hit, or pitch? If you're worried about leadership, get a different manager. Leadership is supposed to be in his job description. Isn't it?

 

Sorry folks, but I'm not jumping on the bandwagon quite yet. I need to see something besides platitudes and minor tweaks before I break out the Homer Hanky again.