and keeping the pitchers in shape, but he's not good at developing talent."

I might be more likely to agree with you if you'd said the exact opposite.

You're I'm sure aware that Hickey was promoted to the Astros from AAA New Orleans, but you may not be aware that he had actually served as a pitching coach within the organization going back to 1991.  

Certainly, minor league pitching coaches don't get fired the way their major league cohorts do, but even so, a tenure like that is remarkable:  the Astros trusted his ability to work with young arms, for many years.  

He got results, too:  the staffs he coached  were first or second in their league in ERA six times.  

1994 GCL Astros # 2
1995 Quad City # 1
1996 Jackson # 2
2001 New Orleans # 2
2002 New Orleans # 1
2003 New Orleans # 1

Quite a run there towards the end with the Zephyrs, huh?

If I say that Hickey had full years with Scott Elarton or Chris Holt or John Halama or even Wade Miller, it may sound as if I am damning with faint praise.  But those guys were as we know not fireballers, and their curves didn't break three feet, yet they all made the majors, and I'm sure that all of them would acknowledge the influence of Jim Hickey.  

In 2002, the club named Hickey their Organizational Man of the Year, "rewarding him for his efforts in developing some of the Astros top pitchers."

I'd say that along with Charley Taylor and Jack Billingham, Jim Hickey has been one of the most distinguished pitching coaches in the history of the team's farm system.  

You may or may not like what he did in 2006, but his ability to develop young pitchers has long since been established.

But I decided to take a look at 2006.  You may have noticed that the club finished second inthe league with a 4.08 ERA.  And it could very well be argued that this very respectable ERA is skewed because of the presence of Roger and Roy and Andy.  Who, presumably, Hickey does not coach.

But when I removed the numbers put up by our big three, what I got was still very respectable.

The entire staff:

82 - 80, 4.08 ERA, 2.41 K/BB, 1.30 WHIP

The guys left after you remove R, R, and A:

47 - 53, 4.57 ERA, 2.37 k/bb, 1.38 WHIP.

Yes that's right, the pitching staff led by starters Wandy and Taylor would have finished tenth in the league in ERA all by its lonesome.

It would have finished tied for fourth in WHIP.  

I didn't follow through, but just imagine what the ERA of, oh, Milwaukee's pitchers would have been after you removed Sheets and Capuano and I guess Dave Bush.

I would seriously bet most clubs would drop sixes.

Wandy may have dropped off the table, but that wonderous April he had is still there in the books, unerased, and how do you explain that?  It wasn't sustained, more's the pity, but what you had there was a young pitcher reaching a new plateau.  

Usually we credit the pitching coaches in cases like that.

One last thing.  Dan Wheeler.

People have remarked on what a great deal he's been for the Astros, how his career took an almost quantum leap forward upon his arrival in Houston.  Now of course, I don't know.  But if I were to suggest to you that Hickey is the guy who got Wheeler to reach his full potential, what would your reaction be?

I've thought about it now, and I'll step forward:  the Astros made a mistake.  They fired a guy who's done nothing but get results his entire career.

Christ, the Astros have been the best in the league at what he coaches ever since he got to Houston.  His staffs led the league in ERA for the second half of 2004, the second half of 2005, and the second half of 2006.  

They were third for the first half of 2005, and seventh for the first half of 2006.  That is to say, since Hickey took the helm, there has never been even a 2-1/2 month period where the Astros have not had a better than league average pitching staff.

Although I won't waste the space in a post already too long by posting them, the WHIP numbers break down almost as good.  As do the K/9 numbers.

Hickey has been able to reproduce successful results.

Why are they firing this guy?