Murphy it is

[bensheeps]

8 hours ago, valpocrewsader said:

And anytime he spoke it just sounded like low intelligence.

I remember his time in postgame interviews that he seemed to struggle, but maybe there was more to the story.

Found this article from Rickie's last year in the league with the Rays.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/southern/when-rickie-says-something-we-listen-former-southern-star-rickie-weeks-a-steadying-influence-for/article_02b758cc-60f5-11e7-926b-2bbe3531855f.html#:~:text=When Cador first met Weeks,Except his mother.

From the article, a quote about his work before he was drafted, "When Cador first met Weeks, he noticed a speech impediment, a stutter. Cador knew big things were ahead for Weeks — “lots and lots of interviews’’ — so he quietly arranged for a speech therapist to work with Weeks. No one ever knew."

Also, some quotes from Rays personnel that talks to Rickie' ability to talk with other players.

“But when Rickie says something, we listen,’’ Rays pitcher Alex Cobb said. “He knows how to act like a pro. We respect him so much. Nobody has to say it. It’s just the truth.’’

“He just has the ability to capture a room,’’ Cobb said. “Not everyone can do that. Some people try and it falls flat. Not him. I think everyone is aware of who he is.’’

[MrTPlush]

8 hours ago, valpocrewsader said:

Weeks has always been one of my least favorite Brewers ever. Horrible reads and anticipation on defense, seemed like bad instincts / low intelligence. Chased low & away breaking balls over and over and over again, seemed like bad discipline / low intelligence. And anytime he spoke it just sounded like low intelligence. Never had much respect for him as a player or as someone to have any kind of special feel for the game or baseball mind.  Honestly, he always seemed like the opposite of what would make a good coach. Hopefully I'm off with my observations.

You do realize, more than about pretty much any sport, baseball depends largely on natural reaction time? No amount of training, steroids, and parent's money on travel ball is going to help that. 

His split between his BA and OBP was .098 for his career....that is insane. Certainly, he was infamous for swinging at sliders off the plate, but literally every player in history is infamous for struggling with some kind of pitch they chase. Braun was no different, Yelich is no different. Weeks is probably Top 5 in franchise history for plate discipline.

[CheezWizHed]

Rod Carew and Paul Molitor were infamously bad as hitting coaches (I think Tony Gwynn too?).  Often it is the people that really had to work at something to be good (or even half-way decent) are the people that make the better coaches at it. 

Those with oodles of natural skill often struggle relating to those that don't. 

[patrickgpe]

Its official, Murphy is the choice, Rickie Weeks is associate manager. 

[MVP2110]

16 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

Its official, Murphy is the choice, Rickie Weeks is associate manager. 

Weeks with a pretty interesting title. Leads credence into the idea he's been groomed as the successor to Murphy 

[MrTPlush]

23 minutes ago, MVP2110 said:

Weeks with a pretty interesting title. Leads credence into the idea he's been groomed as the successor to Murphy 

Yah, that title has got to be a bit intentional for one reason or another.

Is that title actually a thing around baseball?

 

[MrTPlush]

Wonder if their contract bans them from their next job being the Cubs…

[hawing]

A takeaway that is important to me is that I am once again younger than the Brewers' manager. 👍

[torts]

19 minutes ago, hawing said:

A takeaway that is important to me is that I am once again younger than the Brewers' manager. 👍

Mark A: " ...is the candidate from within the system?  Check, yes.

okay, next item on the checklist, is said candidate older than brewerfanatic.com forum poster Hawing?  Hmmm, looks like he is! That gives him the most points in our New Manager scoring sheet!  Just edged out dom mattignly by 1.  Weird typo.."

[CheezWizHed]

22 minutes ago, hawing said:

A takeaway that is important to me is that I am once again younger than the Brewers' manager. 👍

Huh... CC is actually older than I thought. I'm still avoiding that distinction, but probably not for much longer. 

Given Pat Murphy is 64, I'm doubting he will have a long tenure as a HC.  Pat's age makes it more likely that Weeks is being groomed for that. 

[SeaBass]

Just playing devil's advocate, Murphy could manage through his age 70 season and it would be 6 seasons. That's a fairly average timespan for a manager. I think it will come down to performance more than any other reason if the Brewers decide to move on from him. I mean, if they REALLY think Rickie Weeks is going to be the next genius manager and felt they were in danger of losing him, sure they could make the move earlier, but that's a lot of assuming. And it's not like Weeks can't be just as good a leader as a bench coach if Murphy is a successful manager.

[CheezWizHed]

17 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

Just playing devil's advocate, Murphy could manage through his age 70 season and it would be 6 seasons. That's a fairly average timespan for a manager. I think it will come down to performance more than any other reason if the Brewers decide to move on from him. I mean, if they REALLY think Rickie Weeks is going to be the next genius manager and felt they were in danger of losing him, sure they could make the move earlier, but that's a lot of assuming. And it's not like Weeks can't be just as good a leader as a bench coach if Murphy is a successful manager.

Clearly, I'm only guessing what is going on behind the scenes.  Most people see Murphy given the job - probably the only HC job he would've been asked for an interview.  He isn't exactly a "hot commodity".  People see it as a "status quo" pick or a cheap solution.  I guess I'm seeing the potential for more here. 

No idea how long he wants to coach, but sure...he could do it to 70. I'm going to guess that only the best managers actually get to manage to 70.  That doesn't seem very "average" to me. In a lesser role? Perhaps, but not in the HC role. 

Hopefully, he leads us to 3 WS rings and retires happy! 😄 But it also wouldn't surprise me to see him helping usher Weeks to the role - given the titles and situation.  If he wasn't involved in bringing in Weeks and the title given Weeks, he can't feel very secure in his role as HC... and I doubt the working relationship would be very strong.

[MrTPlush]

Weeks' title is odd, but then again, the Blue Jays gave someone the title yesterday.

Possibly, the Brewers are just sausage-blocking Counsell on multiple fronts. Murphy to manager and gave Weeks a title as good as he can get with the Cubs. Counsell will still need a bench coach, he may have liked someone like Weeks...who he played with. Brewers may have been concerned that not giving him the role behind Murphy he could have a chance to leave for Counsell.

[SeaBass]

33 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

Clearly, I'm only guessing what is going on behind the scenes.  Most people see Murphy given the job - probably the only HC job he would've been asked for an interview.  He isn't exactly a "hot commodity".  People see it as a "status quo" pick or a cheap solution.  I guess I'm seeing the potential for more here. 

No idea how long he wants to coach, but sure...he could do it to 70. I'm going to guess that only the best managers actually get to manage to 70.  That doesn't seem very "average" to me. In a lesser role? Perhaps, but not in the HC role. 

Hopefully, he leads us to 3 WS rings and retires happy! 😄 But it also wouldn't surprise me to see him helping usher Weeks to the role - given the titles and situation.  If he wasn't involved in bringing in Weeks and the title given Weeks, he can't feel very secure in his role as HC... and I doubt the working relationship would be very strong.

I just think it's a lot of assuming. I think Murphy is a safe hire, sure. He's probably not getting a substantial salary. We don't even know how long he wants to stay in baseball. I also think the Brewers feel he'll be a successful manager, why else would they hire him? The, "aw shucks, let the old man do it a couple years" idea doesn't really work for me. So they think he can do the job. I just don't know why any team would hire a guy with the thought they'll replace him in 3 or 4 years. Just hire the guy you think will do a good job from the start, no timeline.

Also, 70 isn't some death sentence, Bob Uecker is pushing 90 and I can't find anything online about if he's done yet. Murphy could coach well into his early 70s if he's physically and mentally capable. Dusty Baker did it, I don't know if everyone would agree he's "the best manager" but we don't even know how Murphy will do. 

My only point was, as I said in my post, I think it will come down to his performance as manager more than any other factor that determines how long he keeps the job.

TLDR - I think Weeks is Plan B in case Murphy's performance is a failure. If Murphy is doing a good job then there's no expiration date on his tenure.

[LouisEly]

The last three managers to win the World Series were 68, 73, and 66 years old.

I am not at all concerned about Murphy's age.

[patrickgpe]

It seems  he has the energy of someone more younger. 
 

this is one of the funnier coach exchanges I ever read:

Quote

I’ve never had a guy break me down but still give me compliments,” first baseman Rowdy Tellez said. “I was struggling one day and I got into the dugout, and he goes, ‘Hey man, it’s not your fault.'”

Tellez expected words of encouragement to follow. 

Instead, Murphy looked Tellez right in the eye and deadpanned, “You’re just not that good.”

 

[HarveysWBs]

11 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

It seems  he has the energy of someone more younger. 
 

this is one of the funnier coach exchanges I ever read:

expected words of encouragement to follow. 

Instead, Murphy looked Tellez right in the eye and deadpanned, “You’re just not that good.”

Give him an extension.

[patrickgpe]

1 hour ago, HarveysWBs said:

Give him an extension.

Decided to make that my new signature 

[bigred]

On 11/14/2023 at 11:06 AM, areacodes said:

Of course opinions are allowed - that is the whole point.

But typically when you have the following takes:

People are expecting to see some type of reasoning/logic behind your opinion.

I wasn't a fan of Weeks as a player. Imo, he was slightly above average, but didn't live up to the hype of being the #2 pick overall. His defense and offense were streaky. That's putting it mildly too.

[bigred]

On 11/14/2023 at 2:33 PM, Pugger said:

I wanted a fresh face too.  I thought a guy coming in from a successful operation elsewhere could jump start the team and add a new prospective and attitude to the place.  Let's hope the guys respond to Murphy like they seemed to with CC.

Earl Weaver or Billy Martin. 🤣 2 more names for the list. 

 

[bigred]

On 11/14/2023 at 2:37 PM, Pugger said:

If memory serves most here were excited/pleased with hiring CC back then.  I was pretty ambivalent.  He just seemed way to laid back to me (he still is IMO).

Agreed. I always wish CC would have stuck up for the players, when umps made terrible calls etc, way more than he did. Most of the time he'd just stay leaning on the dugout steps with a stink eye face. Lol

[Fear The Chorizo]

25 minutes ago, bigred said:

I wasn't a fan of Weeks as a player. Imo, he was slightly above average, but didn't live up to the hype of being the #2 pick overall. His defense and offense were streaky. That's putting it mildly too.

Has nothing to do with his potential as a coach/manager, good or bad.....but I will add something to Weeks' playing career - defensively he never was going to be good, but we were robbed of seeing how special he could've been offensively by some significant hand/wrist and ankle injuries early in his career.  

[bigred]

On 11/15/2023 at 7:10 AM, nate82 said:

Judging someone by the way they speak and giving them low intelligence is not a good idea.  People who speak at an intelligent level are usually morons or also known as politicians.

This reminds me of this:

 

There's the old saying, I'll clean up the actual language though 🤣 "The thing about smart people, is they usually sound like stupid people, to dumb people. 

[MVP2110]

51 minutes ago, bigred said:

Agreed. I always wish CC would have stuck up for the players, when umps made terrible calls etc, way more than he did. Most of the time he'd just stay leaning on the dugout steps with a stink eye face. Lol

The idea that Counsell didn't stick up for players is a bit off base imo. He twice led NL Managers in ejections(2018 & 2020) and was also in the top 3 a few other years. He got ejected quite often 

That said I do expect Murphy will ejected even more and you can stand up for your players without getting ejected but the idea that Counsell was laid back towards umps doesn't really hold true 

[CheezWizHed]

22 hours ago, SeaBass said:

I just think it's a lot of assuming. I think Murphy is a safe hire, sure. He's probably not getting a substantial salary. We don't even know how long he wants to stay in baseball. I also think the Brewers feel he'll be a successful manager, why else would they hire him? The, "aw shucks, let the old man do it a couple years" idea doesn't really work for me. So they think he can do the job. I just don't know why any team would hire a guy with the thought they'll replace him in 3 or 4 years. Just hire the guy you think will do a good job from the start, no timeline.

Also, 70 isn't some death sentence, Bob Uecker is pushing 90 and I can't find anything online about if he's done yet. Murphy could coach well into his early 70s if he's physically and mentally capable. Dusty Baker did it, I don't know if everyone would agree he's "the best manager" but we don't even know how Murphy will do. 

My only point was, as I said in my post, I think it will come down to his performance as manager more than any other factor that determines how long he keeps the job.

TLDR - I think Weeks is Plan B in case Murphy's performance is a failure. If Murphy is doing a good job then there's no expiration date on his tenure.

 

22 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

Clearly, I'm only guessing what is going on behind the scenes. 

I feel like you might've missed my first statement.  Of course I'm assuming.  So is everyone else on this forum since none of us are in the Brewer's FO. I'm reading between the lines.  You give the HC job to someone that might deserve it, but not a high ranking candidate and then name a potential up and comer (taking the same path as CC did) as assistant HC?  If Murphy wasn't part of that decision, he'd be looking over his shoulder constantly. 

No, 70 isn't a death sentence. But Bob Uecker sitting in a booth for half of the Brewer games is irrelevant to how many head coaches have the energy and ability to coach into their 70s. 

Last three WS coaches:

• Bruce Bochy: 68 years old. Has been a head coach since 1995. So he was about 41 when he first became a HC.  Won multiple WS 
• Joe Espada - 48 years old.  
• Brian Snitker - 68 years old (now).  Head Coach since 2016.  Was 61 when he started as HC. 

Snitker might be the most relevant to Murphy's situation.  But again... the point was more about Week's being named Assistant HC than Murphy's age.  Just looks like he is keeping the seat warm to me.