the latest... Honeycutt not expected to return by Matthew Moreno | Dodger Blue — 47 minutes ago Whether Grady Little, Joe Torre, Don Mattingly or Dave Roberts, a constant on the Los Angeles Dodgers coaching staff has been Rick Honeycutt. This past season marked Honeycutt’s 12th with the organization as pitching coach. He trails only San Francisco’s Dave Righetti (18 seasons), Chicago White Sox’s Don Cooper (16) and San Diego’s Darren Baisley (15) for longest tenure in the Majors as pitching coach. Righetti was recently reassigned by the Giants as part of a staff overhaul that included hiring Matt Herges. When the Dodgers hired Dave Roberts as manager ahead of the 2016 season, they needed to complete a coaching staff as the contracts of those from Mattingly’s regime had expired. Honeycutt was signed to a two-year deal. Now at the conclusion of his contract, the 63-year-old reportedly will not return with the Dodgers as pitching coach next season, per Robert Murray of Today’s Knuckleball: There is increasing chatter that pitching coach Rick Honeycutt will not return to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2018 season, league sources tell FanRag Sports. “It would be a major upset if he’s back,” one source said. At the time of coming to terms with Honeycutt on a contract, it was reported he would transition from pitching coach to a special assistant role once the deal expired. Honeycutt’s impact on the pitching staff is immeasurable, particularly for Clayton Kershaw. The left-handed ace has regularly raved about Honeycutt’s preparation and work ethic. During Honeycutt’s 12-year tenure, the Dodgers have sported the best cumulative ERA in the Majors. This season, they led the National League with a 3.38 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, .228 opponents’ batting average and 1,549 strikeouts, which also set a franchise record. Honeycutt’s track record enabled the team to seek out pitchers with upside who simply needed a mechanical adjustment or modified approach. With Herges, the former Triple-A Oklahoma City pitching coach, joining the Giants, the Dodgers would not appear to have a clear internal replacement for Honeycutt. Furthermore, there’s already been movement, with the likes of Chris Bosio, Jim Hickey and Mike Maddux joining new clubs.
If he is responsible for CK’s success, could he also be responsible for his post season failures? Or maybe his contributions don’t really matter? It always comes down to the pitchers executing.
wasn't a fan and then i was darvish tipping pitches, ck meltdown again, who knows what to think? always seemed like he got a lot out of his staff but it has to change sometime i like the continuity but is it possibly his choice? not every player/coach wants to die in a uniform
i remember everyone praising dave wallace as a genius and where the fuck is he now? if honeycutt gets credit for kershaw's success then he also gets blame for not fixing for scrubs like stripling and fields, and not getting better results from mehcarthy and spazzmir
Yes I do, there is a reason he is generally regarded around baseball as one of the best in the league. He has helped turn around the careers of more players than I can count. A pitching coach can help improve a pitchers stuff, but it is up to the player to execute when it matters most. If said pitcher is amazing during the regular season, but chokes in the postseason cause suddenly he is hanging everything, to me that is on the pitcher, not the pitching coach as that is something between the ears more than anything.
Stripling was a #4-5 pitcher in the rotation before he had TJ and never really regained the velocity on his FB, that's not on the PC Fields was in AAA getting rocked when the Dodgers traded for him and he has been a well above average since joining the Dodgers. For some reason down the stretch he started pipping fastballs, which tend to get hit far. McCarthy got hurt and then had the Yips which has resulted in multiple crash and burns. That is the signs of a mentally weak individual and it looks like he is never going to get over taking the liner to the head. The PC is not a psychiatrist. Kazmir is and has been hurt since his first game with the club, not sure how that is the pitching coaches problem. Beyond Kershaw he has helped turnaround, Wood, Maeda, Cingrani and Watson just within the last year, not to mention he had fixed Darvish before the dude collapsed under his own weight in the World Series. No pitching coach is going to have a 100% success rate(Ray Searage couldn't even figure out Watson), but one that finds the best in as many pitchers as Honeycutt does is a valuable piece.
my thoughts are this honeycutt is good but my biggest fear with him leaving is there doesn't appear to be an heir apparent
If he stays with the club in a FO position, that could be pretty interesting even with no known immediate replacement. Honeycutt would probably be getting a title that is something like “Head of Pitching Operations”, but not the surgery kind of operations. Allows him to stay home and talk to guys when he has to. It brings in some other voice to be heard as Honey’s specialty is sliders, Sandy works in spring on Curves and the FO has an off-season velocity coach, so maybe they want to bring in someone that could work with something else in mind. That’s about the only reason I’d want someone else and it’s right up the alley for something this FO would do.
That's their M.O. too, adopting the corporate mentality and employing a dozen extra people to do the job of a few, or maybe even one. Pretty soon they're gonna need a friggin'office building behind the team store that Frank's gonna own half of!
Honeycutt loves job as pitching coach, but uncertain on future by Matt Borelli | Dodger Blue — 21 minutes ago Now that the offseason has officially arrived, the Los Angeles Dodgers will soon have some difficult decisions to make regarding the roster and other personnel. Last week, the club saw six players become free agents and reach the open market. Another name was added to the group when the Dodgers declined their 2018 option on Andre Ethier’s contract. As for the coaching staff, it appears longtime pitching coach Rick Honeycutt finds himself in a precarious situation. The 63-year-old’s contract expired and his future with the club is up in the air. A report indicated Honeycutt is not expected to return in the same capacity. With that, Honeycutt said he enjoys working with the organization’s pitchers but will speak with his family to determine a next step, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com: “I just want to take a couple days and get in touch and see what they’re thinking and talk to my family and see what they’re thinking,” the 63-year-old Honeycutt said. “In a lot of ways, I never want to take off the uniform. I love what I do, love working with the guys. That part is always in you. I definitely enjoy all that. Parts of it you don’t like, the travel and stuff. We’ll talk. I’ll consider it again. We’ll see where everybody’s at.” Honeycutt joined the Dodgers organization in 2006 and has served as the club’s pitching coach ever since, working under four different managers. Since taking the job, Honeycutt’s Dodgers pitching staff has the led the league in nearly every statistical category. Over the last 12 seasons, Los Angeles owns the best ERA (3.64), FIP (3.69), strikeouts per nine (8.1) and FanGraphs’ WAR (245.5). In 2017, the Dodgers placed second in ERA (3.38) and FIP (3.67) while ranking third in WAR (24.3). Los Angeles saw career years for Kenley Jansen, Brandon Morrow and Alex Wood — not to mention another Cy Young-worthy season from Clayton Kershaw, who’s been honored with three such awards during Honeycutt’s tenure as pitching coach. Should Honeycutt retire, he could conceivably remain with the club as an advisor to the front office. That was said to be the expectation at the time he last signed a two-year contract.
sounds like its his decision and his later life he's contemplating lot of time alone in hotel rooms, airports and airplanes
I would be surprised if he just walked away. Looking at what he has done with below average/average pitchers, I want him with the team in some capacity. Might be good to just not go on the road and groom a guy to coach on the road and eventually take his place.
herges seemed like he would have been a perfect replacement nerds obviously saw something that said the opposite
Ideally, since we have no natural successor, he stays one more season as the FO grooms a replacement. But if not, there seems to be some retreads that might do in a pinch.
Move Honeycutt up to a FO position, bring in Leo Mazzone and Ray Searage as assistants to whatever Honey's position is and make the new pitching coach the guy who is currently the pitching coach at UNLV. You all can look him up.
