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tagged: The Pittsburgh Pirates. Still the best AAA in the Majors.
Posted by Emmett Jones in Baseball
Pop Quiz: What do Dave Littlefield (old Pirates GM), Neal Huntington (new Pirates GM), and losing baseball games have in common? Nothing yet, but wait until the 2008 baseball season.
Today, numerous media outlets confirmed that the Pirates will tie the Major League record for 16 consecutive losing seasons when they decided to name John Russell as their new head coach, the 5th full-time head coach since the Pirates last winning season in 1992. Russell has spent the last two seasons managing the Ottawa Lynx, the Phillies’ AAA team. Don’t worry Pirates fans, his record will mesh perfectly with the Pirates situation, as the Lynx went 55-88 last season.
I know what you’ve been thinking, as you read this article…why does the name John Russell sound so familiar? Well, he was the Pirates third base coach, who was fired by the team 2 years ago. How well was he received? Let’s go in the “way back machine” courtesy of RizzoSportsBlog,
He hired John Russell, the same person the Pirates fired two years ago. You may remember him for taking all that heat on the call-in shows for sending base-runners.
As you may or may not have heard, the Red Sox pitching coach, John Farrell, had just turned down the Pirates offer on Friday; apparently John Russell was the Pirates second choice, although they allegedly had talked with Chicago White Sox bench coach Joey Cora and Indians third base coach Joel Skinner.
As somebody who lives in Pittsburgh and is a Pirates “fan”, I can’t say that a move such as this isn’t expected. I’m guessing that our next move will be something else that is on this level of “baseball superiority”…Maybe we’ll sign Julio Franco to a $10 million/year deal or something. Or can we maybe get Derek “Operation Shutdown” Bell out of retirement? All I know is that Neal Huntington is no where near the “guru” level of Dave Littlefield yet, but rest easy Pirates fans, he’s well on his way.
The Pittsburgh Pirates…still the best AAA team in the Majors. Sorry Royals and Devil Rays you can’t touch our consistency!!!
ABC News: Pirates Hire John Russell as Manager
RizzoSportsBlog: John Russell new Pirates Manager…You have got to be kidding
ESPN: Red Sox’s Farrell out of Pirates managerial search
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As someone who has always had a fondness for Pittsburgh (went to college in the city for a year many moons ago), it is beyond comprehension the Pirates still have people paying to go to the games. And we in Philly often complain our Phillies’ management doesn’t do enough to win…my God…John Russell???
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Wow I was thinking they should just give up the farse and expense of being a major league team and join the AAA ranks or AA or A. For those of us who saw Clemente Parker Stargell and Bonds play here in Pittsburgh it breaks ones heart to listen to the BS from above about building from within at the begining of the season to watching the same old trading away anyone worth a S#*T