Pirates Manager Search Least of Their Worries

I received an email from the Pirates the day after the season ended with the subject “Pirates relieve Russell of managerial duties”. This may bring a couple a couple of thoughts to your mind like “Why do I receive emails from the Pirates marketing department?” or “Why are the Pirates trying to sugarcoat firing a guy that lost 299 games in three years?” or finally, “Is John Russell the most relieved man in baseball?”

To answer that first question, I used to be a Pirates partial season ticket holder buying one of their ten game packages. A buddy and I decided after we graduated college that it would be fun to do this and we had a few bucks after getting our first real jobs. Well my buddy moved away and I couldn’t GIVE away my tickets when I couldn’t go so that was that. It’s not like the Pirates tickets are the hardest seat in or town or anything. I am still on their email list, however, and get their homemade puff pieces sent to me.

This brings me to the second question you might have, or at least the very first question that I had. Why were the Pirates trying to make this sound like anything but a firing? The Pirates lost nearly 300 games in three years under Russell, including seasons of 67-95, 62-99 and this year’s topper 57-105. The Pirates, who have been stressing “accountability” since Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly took over as the management team, should have released a headline that looked something more like this “Pirates Could Not Fire Russell Fast Enough!” Instead, we email subscribers got a boring piece on how the Pirates thought they needed a change in direction, and that they value Russell’s contributions to the organization, blah, blah, blah.

Frankly, I have no idea if John Russell was a good manager or not. Sure, I didn’t agree with some of his in-game tactics but you can say that about some of the greatest managers of all time. I did like that Russell was willing to think outside of the box. I applauded his attempt to bat the pitcher eighth and his attempt at different defensive positioning. Those ideas may not have worked for this team, but at least Russell was trying something to give his team an edge. For an organization that is inferior in almost every way to its counterparts, a bit of unconventional thinking is needed. The reality though, is that players and talent win games. Russell had neither to work with. That is why the third question popped into my mind. Is anyone more relieved not to be managing then John Russell, especially in light of Coonelly and Huntington’s decision to extend him another year, thus paying Russell approximately a half million dollars not to coach the Pirates? Sign me up!

The truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter one iota who the next manager of the Pirates is going to be. As to my knowledge, the Pirates have interviewed at least six managerial candidates for their vacant position with the apparent frontrunner being former Cleveland skipper Eric Wedge. Do these guys know what they are getting into? Here are the list of Pirates’ managers since Jim Leyland left in 1996; Gene Lamont, Lloyd McClendon, Pete Mackanin (on an interim 25 games basis), Jim Tracy and John Russell. Their combined record with the Pirates was 964-1300, a whopping .426 winning percentage. The only one of these men to get a managerial job after he left was Jim Tracy, and he was very fortunate to get his when serving as bench coach for the Colorado Rockies they fired their manager and he took over, luckily falling into one of the more talented rosters in the National League.

The future looks no brighter for the next Pirates’ manager either. The immediate future of the Pirates is built around Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata. McCutchen is the only sure thing of the group but I think I saw enough of Alvarez to give him the benefit of the doubt as well. Walker was a career .273 hitters in the minors, does anyone think he can really be a .296 hitter in the majors? I think his .340 BABIP may have played a part in Walker’s luck. Jose Tabata has shown no inclination of hitting with power despite being the Pirates everyday left fielder of the future. The four of them were also major contributors to the Pirates’ league worst defense. Even allowing that Walker and Tabata can become solid regulars, McCutchen and Alvarez reach their potential, and the Pirates have a decent catching platoon between Snyder and Doumit, the Pirates are still three (or 2.5 if they decide Garrett Jones can be a decent platoon at 1B or RF) players away from having a good major league line-up. And that is the good news for the next Pirates’ manager!

The bad news is that if the Pirates fail to sign any prominent free agent starters, and that’s a pretty good bet, your 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation to begin the season will most likely consist of Ross Ohlendorf, James McDonald, Paul Maholm, Brad Lincoln and Charlie Morton. Their respective career ERAs are 4.40, 3.84, 4.48, 6.66 and 5.98. Not exactly the Phillies current H2O staff. The only near-term help on the farm are prospects Bryan Morris and Rudy Owens, both far from a sure thing. It’s true that the Pirates have stockpiled some great arms in the lower minors, but by the time they reach the big leagues the new manager very well could be looking for his next job.

That, people, is the state of your Pittsburgh Pirates. A once proud organization has fallen to the point where it really doesn’t matter who they hire to manage their ballclub. I do hope for the next manager’s sake that he is given at least a four or five year contract so that he can grow with the Pirates’ young talent on his terms. I also hope that he gets a guarantee from the Pirates’ management team that they will significantly increase payroll in the next few years. Lastly, I hope that the Pirates do the right thing and hire a guy proven to be a great developer of young talent. But who am I kidding, does it really matter who the Pirates hire for their next manager? I have a sad feeling that I will be receiving another email in two or three years headlined, “Pirates relieve general manager and coach of duties.”