Cory, I agree with you about Castro in that he was a "fall guy."  I think the move was handled poorly and that due to his length of service with the team (as a player, as a scout, and as a bullpen coach), he should've been allowed to quietly resign and take his pension immediately.  That's the class thing to do.

As for JJ Hardy, his defense is superlative, which is why despite his prolonged slump, I believe sending him to AAA is wrong.  (Now, if he had some sort of injury, sending him to AAA -- losing no major league service time, nor his major league paycheck -- would be OK, because I'd know -- and he'd know -- that the move was likely to be temporary.)  And bringing up Escobar now, when he doesn't know the league (except for the AAA players who've been brought up during the year), nor how to play them, nor how to be positioned, isn't going to help.  Yes, Willie Randolph and Dale Sveum are both infielders and can help in that regard -- maybe a great deal.  But nothing succeeds like experience at the major league level -- making this change now, rather than in two weeks, is nonsensical.  (I see it solely as a way to keep Hardy from being a FA after 2010 due to the oddities and complexities of the major league contract.  Or, possibly, a way to get him off the roster while the Brewers claim Doug Davis -- someone claimed Davis this evening, but the Brewers aren't saying it's them as of yet and I don't know for sure it's the Brewers.  I'm not sure if Hardy can be sent, straight-up, for Davis due to the waiver wire.  But if he can, that's my best bet as to what's going on, and I will really not like that.)

I think defense is underrated in baseball, Cory, especially by casual fans.  I really think JJ's defense, over time, will be missed.  Escobar is going to make flashy plays, yes (I remember spring training, and his cup of coffee last year), but he'll miss easy ones, and inexplicably be in the wrong position on still others, just because he's a rookie and the other teams obviously know that.  (Even Robin Yount, when he came up in 1974, had some of these problems.  This is no slur against Escobar, just baseball reality.)

As for Bill Hall, I think the Brewers should not have recalled him if they were going to do this; they should've let him tear up AAA pitching, then let some other team ask about him in the offseason and trade him then -- that was the best and classiest move for a guy who'd been with your organization all this time, done so much for the community, and helped on the bench and with his defense despite not being able to do much in the way of hitting the past two years.

In short -- I think these moves were a sign of panic and/or desperation, and while they may help in the short term, they're going to hurt long-term (especially Hardy) -- and I want to say once again that Bill Castro should've been allowed to quietly retire, or be reassigned immediately somewhere else in the organization (as it appears this may well happen in a "few days," according to Tom Haudricourt's blog), as that would've been the class move for someone who's always been a class act, Bill Castro.

P.S. I don't think any pitching coach would've been able to do much better with this bunch.  Gallardo is a good #3 for some other team, and eventually will be a good #2.  He's no ace.  Looper obviously is a #4 or a #5, and so is Suppan, even when Suppan is healthy.  (Also, Suppan is a notoriously slow starter.  If he were healthy, he'd be pitching very well right now.)  Dave Bush is potentially a #3 or perhaps even a #2 - remember, he's the only pitcher who won a playoff game for the Brewers last year -- but of course, he's on the DL as well . . . DiFelice has been overworked, Stetter has been overworked, and while Carlos Villanueva is coming around again as a starter (he has the gifts) and so, it appears, is Manny Parra (same deal), they're both still very young men.

In short -- or in long, considering the length of this blog post ;) -- even the best pitching coach in the history of the world would've had trouble doing much better than Castro.

You can tell Hardy is one of the better liked people on the team. Everybody is afraid to critisize him. Hardy has been bad all year and Hall has been bad for almost 3 years. Something happened to Hardy as he runs like an old man.

Hardy earned his demotion for a seson of poor play. If he has to wait an additional year for free agency he has no one to blame but himself. I'm tired of hearing from all these apologists that he needs to be given more time. This team blew it as a whole and it's time for the players to pay the price.

My only complaint is that Gerut and Kendall didn't have to answer for their futility....Oh wait, Kendalls steller defense more then out weighs his ineptitude at the plate.

Yeah right!!!

Why fire the coaches?  Maybe we need to take a hard long look at our G.M. Doug Melvin!  We need pitching, We needed pitching last year!!