ESPN’s Rob Neyer discussed Milwaukee Pitching coach Rick Peterson in his daily column. He talks about his philosophy, penchant for keeping his staffs healthy, and how Milwaukee needs to improve their current pitching depth. I was always surprised that Peterson was fired, along with Willie Randolph, back in 2008. I never was under the impression that he was the problem. Obviously, bullpen management was terrible under Randolph, but that is more of an indictment on the manager than pitching coach. Under his direction, Mets staffs were just simply better.

During Peterson’s tenure the Mets were always above the league average as a staff, including 2004, when the team lost 91 games. That staff included such luminaries as Matt Ginter, Jae Seo, Tyler Yates, and Aaron Heilman. Add in the fact that you had Glavine, Leiter and Trachsel as the big three, and it’s amazing their team ERA was 4.10. The Mets team ERA ranking was as follows during the Peterson’s four full seasons:

2004:  8th (4.10)
2005:  3rd (3.77)
2006:  3rd (4.16)
2007:  7th (4.27)

In 2008, they were sixth, obviously performing better after Peterson left than before. That could simply be an outlier, as the team got hot right after his dismissal. Oliver Perez, John Maine, and Jae Seo all had career years under him and, to date, have never to return to those levels. Glavine and El Duque saw a bit of a renaissance later in their career as well.

The biggest indictment on Peterson might have been his work with Mike Pelfrey. It seemed the two never clicked, as Pelfrey took off under current pitching coach Dan Warthen. However, if you read Ron Darling’s book “The Complete Game”, the two were starting to make strides during Peterson’s final game in Anaheim.

As Neyer states in the piece “He (Peterson) knows the value of the swinging strike and groundball, and he doesn’t seem to carry a notebook of clichés and labels for each of his pitchers.” Under Dan Warthen the staff was below league average for the first time since 2003, walked a ton of hitters, and saw four of their five opening day starters miss time due to injury. Not all of that is attributed to Warthen but, more importantly, Maine, Perez, and Pelfrey seem to have regressed under his watch. Baseball is clearly a combination of art and science, but very few pitching coaches are able to balance that, in my opinion, like Rick Peterson.

I would feel better about the 2010 Mets rotation if Rick Peterson was in charge. Look back to a similar offseason, 2007, where the Mets didn’t acquire a big name pitcher, yet managed to be in the top half of the league in pitching. Not to mention 2006, which may have been the best bullpen in team history.

I predict the Brewers will see many arms overachieve with Peterson is their pitching coach. Their young hurlers, like Yovanni Gallardo, will become better because of the experience of working with him. Boy, could the Mets use someone like that for their 2010 staff.

To listen to Rick Peterson talk pitching and 3p Sports with me download the replay here.



Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Oliver Perez, Rick Peterson, Rick Peterson Pitching Q&A, Willie Randolph