Bleacher Bums Forum

It would be mean to suggest that the old boy network still runs fine, even in the Theocracy, in that Sveum and Deer were teammates and buddies on the Brewers, so you didn't hear it from me.  Davep emailed that to me.

Deer knew how to work the count.  He walked a ton.  He's definitely a guy who knows something about grinding out at bats, which is probably what appeals to the front office.

He wasn't a great hitter, but he was pretty productive.  And he was one of the few to be able to succeed long term with a Brett Jackson-like (lack of) ability to make contact, for whatever that's worth.

You mean Rob Deer as a hitting coach was not a joke?

Wow.

He holds the dubious honor of having the lowest official batting average while still qualifying for the batting title when he batted .179 in 1991.  He is the only player since 1910 to have a batting average less than .220 in at least 400 at-bats in at least four seasons.

Deer held the American League record for strikeouts in a season (186 strikeouts in 1987) until being passed by Jack Cust in 2008, and had at least 140 strikeouts on seven occasions.  Deer averaged a strikeout every 2.75 at-bats.

But easy as it is to poke fun at the signing, or to attribute it to the buddy network, there probably was something far more important at play.

Deer is the owner/developer of the Viz-u-bat system.

http://viz-u-battingsystems.com/AboutUs.html
Rob’s Major League experience will
help you become a better hitter.    

Former San Diego Padre Rob Deer started Viz-U-Batting Systems in 2006 when he first started taping a ball to a bat to help him visualize where he needed to connect with the ball. Over the years he’s been perfecting his basic concept while he was the hitting coach for the Padres.

"I was a notorious free swinger when I played. I knew what I was doing wrong, but I never had a tool that could help me focus and prepare for the game mentally as well as physically."

"When I came on board as the hitting coordinator for a major league franchise, I wanted to help the players do things I was not able to do as a hitter. When I first started taping the ball onto the end of a bat, they were a little confused...but after just a few swings, they quickly realized the impact that pre-visualization could have on your game."

After the initial success of the Viz-U-Bat, Rob and a business partner developed other tools to help hitters visualize the strike zone and the proper way to hit within it.

From Major Leaguers to Little Leaguers, Rob’s unique tools are getting
positive, even dramatic results for hitters at every level.

The approach has been endorsed by George Brett, Robin Yount and Tony Gwynn (though the company website mis-spells Gwynn's last name....).

Olney:

‏@Buster_ESPN
Scott Feldman is on the verge of signing a one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs

Hopefully, it's just a depth signing and he'll be more of a swingman.

Feldman's deal is for 1 year, $6 million with $1 million in incentives.  Sounds a little pricey for a guy who has been pretty mediocre in his career.  And it probably also means they see him as a starter, not a swing guy.

Ugh, I'd rather have seen us make the Marmol for Haren trade and taken our chances on Haren's health. 

Next year's definitely going to be another long year.

Love the Feldman signing. His peripherals were strong last year and he had some bad luck. He has a great chance to significantly outperform a 6 mil deal.

His peripherals aren't that good for his career, though.  He's another guy who doesn't strike hitters out, and his home run rates aren't anything special either.

Yeah his peripherals were OK last season (better K's and BB's than usual), but his career year in peripherals at age 29 still resulted in a 5.09 ERA.  For the rest of his career, his numbers all around are decidedly mediocre.

At least we're not bogging ourselves down in long term contracts at this point.