Phillies 2016-2017 offseason Discussion

[Philsmania]

Matt Stairs has been named the new hitting coach.

I guess there's at least one change in the broadcast booth. On the same note, I always thought Moyer would be perfect as a pitching coach.

Just because a guy played for them, it doesn't mean he'll automatically be a failure.

[Austinfan]

Stairs didn't last 19 years on raw talent, listening to him talk about hitting in the booth, you know this is a guy who watches a lot of film.

[andyb]

The main thing for a hitting coach these days is to help break down video for the hitters so they understand what to anticipate and how to look for flaws and ways to improve their swings. In the broadcast booth, Stairs was constantly saying things like he should be looking for a breaking pitch here and breaking down approaches and swings. I think that could translate into a good hitting coach.

Without seeing any results that was my impression. There is nothing wrong with swinging hard and trying to hit the ball out of the park. The key is having a plan at the plate so you can work the count into a place where you are swinging hard at a good pitch to hit. Stairs combined aggressiveness with discipline and that is good. Whether he is a good coach is really an open question till we see it.

[Slinging_Southpaw]

Stairs and Schmidt were always talking about not swinging so hard.

[allentown]

Matt Stairs has been named the new hitting coach.

So our new philosophy will be "swing hard in case you hit it"?

Probably how many Phillies' phans remember Stairs, but hardly a fair interpretation of his career. He was in Philly as an old man, during the tail end of his age 40 season and his age 41 season. It is remarkable for any hitter to remain an active MLB player. His hitting was at least passable both of those seasons. At age 40 in 2008, he put up a .250 BA and 0.736 OPS in over 300 AB for Toronto and then had 17 magical regular season AB for Phillies to a 1.000+ followed by a HR in 4 post-season AB. Even in 2009, when he had a BA less than Mendoza, he still had a .357 OBP and .736 OBP. He rebounded the next season, at age 42, with a .232 BA and .781 OPS playing in San Diego's park as his home.

I think you malign a good hitter. For his long career, he was a .262 BA, .356 OBP, .833 OPS guy. I'd take that on next year's Phillies. He put up about a half dozen really nice offensive seasons.

[zambonir]

It really doesn't matter whether Stairs was a good hitter or not (though he certainly was). Understanding hitting, and being able to get other people to understand hitting (and take instruction) is a different skill from actually hitting. You can't be a complete know-nothing, obviously, but someone who failed (which Stairs did not) or lacked pure ability can often be a better coach anyway. Compared to Charlie Manuel or Charley Lau, one might more plausibly worry that Stairs was too good.

I'm sure his analysis in the broadcast booth got someone's attention.

[LoneStarPhan]

Todd Z reports that that Kruk might replace Stairs in the Phillies' booth.

Source: Kruk could join Phillies' broadcast team

[allentown]

It really doesn't matter whether Stairs was a good hitter or not (though he certainly was). Understanding hitting, and being able to get other people to understand hitting (and take instruction) is a different skill from actually hitting. You can't be a complete know-nothing, obviously, but someone who failed (which Stairs did not) or lacked pure ability can often be a better coach anyway. Compared to Charlie Manuel or Charley Lau, one might more plausibly worry that Stairs was too good.

I'm sure his analysis in the broadcast booth got someone's attention.

Certainly many of the best teachers are those to whom the subject did not come easily, but I think to be a successful teacher one needs the basic respect of the students with regard to one's subject competence. I think this is particularly true when the students are multi-millionaires earning multi-millions per year actually practicing the subject the teacher is teaching. I think it doubly important when the teacher is known to be teaching the subject for the first time. If you don't have a teaching resume, you had best have a subject resume. Charlie Manuel came here with an extensive teaching resume. I think it actually is important that Stairs was a very good hitter. I feel better about him taking over the job knowing that he was a consistent high OBP guy with power. I would have been disappointed if the Phillies had hired a novice hitting instructor who was a poor to bad hitter, himself. I really don't care how much of a student of hitting Michael Martinez is or how expert he is at breaking down film, I would not be happy if the announcement was that he was retiring to become our MLB hitting coach.

[andyb]

I think the proper context is "Work the count to get a really good pitch worth swinging hard at".

[phillychuck]

I think Stairs might be pretty good with the mental approach, but I don't think he knows very much about hitting mechanics. Hope someone else on the staff does.

[phillychuck]

Todd Z reports that that Kruk might replace Stairs in the Phillies' booth.

Source: Kruk could join Phillies' broadcast team

Make it so.

Please???!!??

[fish]

I guess it probably means more to the team to get a systemic hitting philosophy and teaching approach established for the guys before they get to the big leagues. I'd be curious to know if Klentak has plans to refine the development program to mold it into something more coherent. I think there is signs of that on the pitching side- pretty good numbers for Ks and walk rates throughout the system last year.

[Squire]

It's 9:01 AM after the end of the World Series......have we declined Ryan Howard's 2017 option yet????

[Lawman]

It's 9:01 AM after the end of the World Series......have we declined Ryan Howard's 2017 option yet????

Phillies have announced they will make no moves until after this board is done the upgrades so we can comment on them.

[julio]

It's 9:01 AM after the end of the World Series......have we declined Ryan Howard's 2017 option yet????

Phillies have announced they will make no moves until after this board is done the upgrades so we can comment on them.

I'm not going to post that press release here - I've already re-formatted the press release template for the new board...

[julio]

At 9 am this morning, the following Phillies became free agents:

Hellickson, Jeremy
Hernandez, David
Ellis, A.J.
Blanco, Andres
Bourjos, Peter

Two additional players may become free agents if the Phillies decline their options for 2017:

Morton, Charlie ($9.5 million mutual option; $1 million buyout)
Howard, Ryan ($23 million club option; $10 million buyout)

Because Morton's option is mutual, he could opt to become a free agent even if the Phillies are willing to pick up the option. However, if the Phillies want to pick up the option, and Morton declines, then he forfeits the $1 million buyout.

[andyb]

More importantly, Nola's agent saying he is healthy. Of course that is what his agent will always say, but we did have visual sightings of him in FL looking good.

philly.com/philly/sports/phi ... lthy_.html

[Austinfan]

The main thing for a hitting coach these days is to help break down video for the hitters so they understand what to anticipate and how to look for flaws and ways to improve their swings. In the broadcast booth, Stairs was constantly saying things like he should be looking for a breaking pitch here and breaking down approaches and swings. I think that could translate into a good hitting coach.

Without seeing any results that was my impression. There is nothing wrong with swinging hard and trying to hit the ball out of the park. The key is having a plan at the plate so you can work the count into a place where you are swinging hard at a good pitch to hit. Stairs combined aggressiveness with discipline and that is good. Whether he is a good coach is really an open question till we see it.

Yes there is. Swinging hard is usually bad mechanics, like a pitcher trying to throw hard. Hitters need good mechanics, it varys from hitter to hitter, but the basics are the same, swing path, swing plane and timing mechanism to keep the moving parts in synch.
The key is to develop a QUICK swing in today's game to handle the modern FB, but also to keep your hands back so you have a chance to react to off speed stuff. Stairs talked about mechanics all the time in the booth, my favorite was his comment on Franco, you can tell he's overswinging when his helmet falls off, and sure enough, that was true everytime. He also focused on whether hitters were pull happy or went with the pitch, and situation hitting.
You could tell listening to Stairs that he studied the Phillies hitters, and wasn't just making comments off the cuff.

[bkeich]

At 9 am this morning, the following Phillies became free agents:

Hellickson, Jeremy
Hernandez, David
Ellis, A.J.
Blanco, Andres
Bourjos, Peter

Two additional players may become free agents if the Phillies decline their options for 2017:

Morton, Charlie ($9.5 million mutual option; $1 million buyout)
Howard, Ryan ($23 million club option; $10 million buyout)

Because Morton's option is mutual, he could opt to become a free agent even if the Phillies are willing to pick up the option. However, if the Phillies want to pick up the option, and Morton declines, then he forfeits the $1 million buyout.

That should be an easy choice for Morton. I can't imagine the Phils would even laughingly want to pay him an extra $8.5M to either be on the DL or be a bad starting pitcher. We can find another 84 ERA+ starter for less than that hopefully.

Morton would have to be a fool to decline. He should be able to get a small deal or minor league deal pretty easily, the $1M is a nice bonus.

[andyb]

The main thing for a hitting coach these days is to help break down video for the hitters so they understand what to anticipate and how to look for flaws and ways to improve their swings. In the broadcast booth, Stairs was constantly saying things like he should be looking for a breaking pitch here and breaking down approaches and swings. I think that could translate into a good hitting coach.

Without seeing any results that was my impression. There is nothing wrong with swinging hard and trying to hit the ball out of the park. The key is having a plan at the plate so you can work the count into a place where you are swinging hard at a good pitch to hit. Stairs combined aggressiveness with discipline and that is good. Whether he is a good coach is really an open question till we see it.

Yes there is. Swinging hard is usually bad mechanics, like a pitcher trying to throw hard. Hitters need good mechanics, it varys from hitter to hitter, but the basics are the same, swing path, swing plane and timing mechanism to keep the moving parts in synch.
The key is to develop a QUICK swing in today's game to handle the modern FB, but also to keep your hands back so you have a chance to react to off speed stuff. Stairs talked about mechanics all the time in the booth, my favorite was his comment on Franco, you can tell he's overswinging when his helmet falls off, and sure enough, that was true everytime. He also focused on whether hitters were pull happy or went with the pitch, and situation hitting.
You could tell listening to Stairs that he studied the Phillies hitters, and wasn't just making comments off the cuff.

Not necessarily. You just don't understand hitting. Swinging hard means putting a good swing on a ball, not jumping out of your socks. Stairs swung hard as a player. As a result he hit more home runs. And he did it with above average discipline. This approach has also been justified in sabermetrics as high strikeout rates if accompanied by good power are not a bad thing.

The game has changed. Sabermetrics has changed what we think of as a good approach at the plate.