Peterson still in running as pitching coach

Rick Peterson is still under consideration to remain as the Brewers' pitching coach after a pair of meetings last week with new manager Ron Roenicke, but Roenicke plans to spend his first full week on the job sifting through other candidates before making a final decision.

Peterson still has one season left on his two-year contract, but general manager Doug Melvin is giving Roenicke freedom to select his own staff.

"The meeting with me and [Peterson] went well," Roenicke said. "But bench coach, pitching coach, those two spots are so important to a new manager. I really have to make sure I have the right person, whether it's Rick, whether it's somebody else. I need to make sure."

Roenicke wants to make his decision soon, partly so Peterson knows where he stands heading into 2011.

Peterson stated his case to stay in a pair of meetings with Roenicke last week. The men did not know each other before those sit-downs, but Peterson probably made the point that he's been in that situation before. He did not know Ken Macha before they were paired together at Double-A Trenton in 1997, and he did not know A's manager Art Howe before joining Oakland as its pitching coach in '98.

In both cases, the relationship worked, because Howe brought Peterson to the New York Mets in 2004, and Macha brought him to Milwaukee before the '10 season.

In addition to the pitching post, Roenicke is also in the market for a bench coach, first- and third-base coaches and a bullpen coach. The only spot spoken for belongs to hitting coach Dale Sveum, who signed a two-year contract extension last month.

"We want to [set the staff] as quickly as we can," Roenicke said. "We also know it's important to get the right people, so we don't want to rush into it. Doug and [Brewers assistant GM] Gord Ash have gotten together a bunch of names for me to look at, people they really like, and they've come up with some nice names."

The Brewers introduced Roenicke at Miller Park on Thursday as the 18th manager in franchise history.

He returned home to California over the weekend, but will travel to Phoenix later this week to meet with Melvin, Sveum and the Brewers' development staff there. Roenicke will be back in Milwaukee several times over the coming months, including in late January for the team's "Brewers On Deck" event.

"Once we get the coaching staff together, I've got the numbers for all of the players, and I want to start calling them," Roenicke said. "It's going to be pretty busy here for the next couple of weeks."