In a somewhat surprising move, the Brewers announced yesterday that they have asked their entire coaching staff to return for the 2012 season.
That staff consists of hitting coach Dale Sveum, third-base coach Ed Sedar, bullpen coach Stan Kyles, bench coach Jerry Narron, pitching coach Rick Kranitz, first-base coach Garth Iorg and outfield coach/eye in the sky John Shelby.
When you think about some of the hitting slumps, including the complete lack of power shown in the playoffs, I'm a bit surprised that Dale Sveum is returning as the hitting coach. Since he is a candidate for pretty much every vacant manager position, I wonder if the Brewers are hedging their bets that he might not return.
Its also slightly questionable that pitching coach Rick Kranitz is returning. Presumably he was a major factor in deciding who to pitch in the postseason and that was a major factor in why the Brewers lost in the postseason.
Folks have always questioned Ed Sedar at third base. With Ron Roenicke's more aggressive base-path strategy, Sedar was free to turn into version 2 of "Wavin' Dale Sveum" and the Brewers made a decent number of outs at home plate.
My biggest complaint with Sedar is that he doesn't seem to be able to choose whether he wants to be aggressive or safe. The inconsistency was frustrating for me and I'm certain it was more so for the players. They really weren't able to predict what he'd be calling. Ryan Braun ran right through Sedar's call at third base on at least one occasion, leading us to believe that the players don't have a lot of faith in Sedar's calls. So his return is also pretty surprising.
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Lastly, no one, ever, has been able to provide any sort of detail as to what Jerry Narron does as the bench coach. He writes calligraphy on the official lineup card, but other than that, we really never saw him the entire season. He never spoke to the media and was never really referred to. You'll remember when Ted Simmons and Robin Yount were bench coaches, they were often in the spotlight. What's different with Narron?
