[610 Sports] Astros pitching coach Jim Hickey FIRED

Astros fire Hickey, extend Garner

I guess they have to put the blame on the pitching coach. The pitchers just weren't driving in enough runs in crucial situations. Garner extended thru 2008.

 

so this past season, we fired our hitting coach/instructor, now fired our pitching coach....and yet phil garner still has a job....

 

Hickey??? Really??? Why?? Is having one of the best pitching staffs in baseball (as a whole) really not good enough?

 

i don't get this at all.

 

Garner might be one of the worst game managers in the National League. I think the Astros need a manager with a more agressive style.

 

i don't think aggressiveness was the problem. I think it was more of an intelligence issue.

 

I don't know if it was necessary to extend Garner but he only had 1 year left on his contract. Hickey had to fired. All the Astros young pitchers really haven't developed and seem to be regressing rather than developing. Sean Berry was an interim coach so I doubt he comes back.

 

We're not in the clubhouse, bullpen, video room, dugout or practice field. It could be one/any of a myriad of reasons: How does he interact with young pitchers? Vets? Staff/front office? What is his instructional regimen? Does he smell funny? We don't know jack. Or Jim, for that matter. They didn't do this on the spur of the moment.

 

Extending Garner is a bad decision IMHO.

His stubborn loyalty cost us too many times this year. From sticking with Gallo WAY too long to the use of Jason Lane in an everyday situation for months when it was obvious he wasn't getting anything going, Garner did not make good decisions this year.

I do like Garner and his ability to foster a good clubhouse atmosphere, keeping players hungry, and making sure his team never quits. Maybe that goes hand in hand with the loyalty as the players probably like to play for a manager like that. Garner is a great manager for a team with a lot of talent. That may seem easy to many, but there have been many managers who piss away a lot of good talent because they can't develop any chemistry. Maybe getting Carlos Lee and a few other pieces (including a better/more focused Brad Lidge?) will force Garner to make less bad decisions next year and this team will have a great year.

I'd have liked to see how he does next year before extending him however.

 

Not sure how Garner got extended and Hickey got fired. Garner would have gone into next season in the last year of his contract for me. Kind of makes me wonder about his upcoming off-season now.

 

yeah, i'm not saying it's wrong or illegitimate. i'm just lost.

 

Maybe for his inability to turn Lidge around?

 

Maybe for his inability to turn Lidge around?


Meant to post in this thread.

 

I'm with you, just a bit of a head scratcher

 

Can't really turn the guy around when all he sees when he goes to sleep is:

 

I know. All I'm saying is that there's no way for us to know anything about the situation & make judgements on it.

Definitely surprising.

 

Three things stand out in my mind:
1) His inability to get Lidge straightened out
2) The Astros calling in Dewey Robinson (the minor league roving instructor who worked closely with Lidge while he was in the system)
3) I believe it was Justice who said that Hickey liked to be on camera a lot, almost too much. You'll recall he was always on the FOX telecasts during the last two playoff runs for their between inning coaches chats.

Since the source (I believe) on the third point is Justice, I think it's more likely the combination of the first two.

 

ditto. of all people to fire he wouldn't be high on my list.

 

With his media skills and rah-rah attitude, Hickey always seemed to be the manager type, not the pitching/hitting coach type. I preferred Vern Rhule.