Derek Johnson leaving Brewers to become pitching coach for Cincinnati Reds

Ken Rosenthal is reporting some (probably) bad news for the team and Brewer fans:

This makes the rest of the coaching changes more...er, interesting might be the word. With Darnell Coles gone to the D’Backs and Lee Tunnell dismissed, it seems that there may be something going on within the organization that we are unaware of. Or it’s just the normal course of events within the coaching world.

DJ helped to develop an effective, if unrenowned, pitching staff at the start of the season that ended up at the 4th best ERA in the National League, posting the second best WHIP in the league.

Reports were that Johnson helped pitchers such as Chase Anderson and Zach Davies reach their full potential, and his tutolage aided Gio Gonzalez when he came to Milwaukee late last season. Certainly many pitchers, like Jhoulys Chacin, out-performed their expectations once they joined the Brewers.

We may never learn all of the details of the coaching changes this off season, but after the success of the team in 2018, winning the NL Central with 96 wins and coming within one game of the World Series, it is a surprise. Perhaps it is simply a matter of other teams buying new coaches for more than the Brewers were willing to pay. David Stearns certainly has prices that he won’t go over to acquire players; it stands to reason that the organization approaches the rest of the club’s personnel the same way, although that theory was (somewhat) debunked by David Stearns, per Tom Haudricourt:

These are my initial reactions. I may think differently upon reflection.