OnlyBucs

Wow. I put the sound back on in the 4th and saw an entire half inning without a single word of commentary about the game. The first batter grounded out while Robbie was interviewing a painter. The 2nd batter grounded out while Block talked about his own inability to paint and how he would like to travel around the world seeing other stadiums. The 3rd batter struck out while Block and Blass were talking about the Blass logo. The inning went start to finish without a single word from the booth about who was batting, the pitches, or the outcome. It was just a half inning chat session with no reference to the game whatsoever. I realize these games no longer matter but that's unbelievable.

Ah, the old Hurdle formula of 1 inning per reliever. So Rodriguez pitches a scoreless 6th and Liriano gives up 2 walks, a hit and the tie run in the 7th. If the other team can't hit your reliever, take him out and give them another chance with someone else.

624F42535445521211200 wrote: Ah, the old Hurdle formula of 1 inning per reliever. So Rodriguez pitches a scoreless 6th and Liriano gives up 2 walks, a hit and the tie run in the 7th. If the other team can't hit your reliever, take him out and give them another chance with someone else.




Clint asks, why change a successful formula?



Perhaps because it hasn't been successful?

Does anybody on here think Clint will be fired in about 10 days when the season is over?? I just see no possible way the front office can justify bringing both Hurdle and this coaching staff back for next season. 88 losses now after being swept at home by a bad Mariners team. How much worse can this truly get.

5C7B6A6E6B76497D6A6B6B760F0 wrote: Does anybody on here think Clint will be fired in about 10 days when the season is over?? I just see no possible way the front office can justify bringing both Hurdle and this coaching staff back for next season. 88 losses now after being swept at home by a bad Mariners team. How much worse can this truly get.
Obviously any normal franchise would fire the mgr, GM or both. Without a doubt. But the Pirates are in the shape they are in precisely because they are not a normal franchise. Nutting doesn't care about winning. So the frequency of losing matters little. Nutting cares about profit. When the Pirates went from 98 wins to 78 wins to 75 wins but were still turning a profit he decided Hurdle and NH had earned 4 year extensions. Obviously not because of positive performance. So why should negative performance matter either? Why would he pay anyone for 2 years not to be employed while also paying their replacement?



For PR purposes I expect a few cosmetic changes. Something that can make a newspaper headline like firing Searage or Cora or a scout or a ticket manager or a janitor. But it won't be anything that costs Nutting money. This is an organization that's run as a profitable business; not as a competing MLB franchise. We've all seen enough of the business practices to know what to expect and what not to expect. What "should" be done from a competitive baseball perspective is meaningless in terms of what generates continuing revenue for the business enterprise Nutting oversees.

Yet ANOTHER fundamental blunder to lose the game. On the game winning play for Seattle with runners at 1st and 3rd the ball is hit to 2B. You can't concede the go ahead run in the 11th so you either go for the runner at the plate or an inning ending DP. Kramer fields the ball cleanly and bypasses the lead runner from 1B to get the batter at 1B, allowing the go ahead runner to score. Even tho the play results in a DP after the runner between 1B and 2B is tagged out in a rundown, the crucial run has scored. You either go for the go ahead run at the plate or the DP. You can't let the lead runner go and them get the out at 1B and then get the remaining runner out in a rundown while allowing the lead run to score in the 11th. It's so great that Hurdle is such a great "motivator" (he has motivated them to 78, 75, 82 and now even fewer wins the last 4 years) but his teams always reek of poor fundamentals.

436E63727564733330010 wrote: Does anybody on here think Clint will be fired in about 10 days when the season is over?? I just see no possible way the front office can justify bringing both Hurdle and this coaching staff back for next season. 88 losses now after being swept at home by a bad Mariners team. How much worse can this truly get.
Obviously any normal franchise would fire the mgr, GM or both. Without a doubt. But the Pirates are in the shape they are in precisely because they are not a normal franchise. Nutting doesn't care about winning. So the frequency of losing matters little. Nutting cares about profit. When the Pirates went from 98 wins to 78 wins to 75 wins but were still turning a profit he decided Hurdle and NH had earned 4 year extensions. Obviously not because of positive performance. So why should negative performance matter either? Why would he pay anyone for 2 years not to be employed while also paying their replacement?



For PR purposes I expect a few cosmetic changes. Something that can make a newspaper headline like firing Searage or Cora or a scout or a ticket manager or a janitor. But it won't be anything that costs Nutting money. This is an organization that's run as a profitable business; not as a competing MLB franchise. We've all seen enough of the business practices to know what to expect and what not to expect. What "should" be done from a competitive baseball perspective is meaningless in terms of what generates continuing revenue for the business enterprise Nutting oversees.   




Yep. May not be what people want to hear, but up to this point in time this is exactly right. Maybe Nutting will change and start running the franchise like a real MLB team, but we have zero reason to expect that based on his years of ownership. I hope he changes it or sells. But I have no basis to expect him to do so.

5C717C6D6A7B6C2C2F1E0 wrote: Yet ANOTHER fundamental blunder to lose the game. On the game winning play for Seattle with runners at 1st and 3rd the ball is hit to 2B. You can't concede the go ahead run in the 11th so you either go for the runner at the plate or an inning ending DP. Kramer fields the ball cleanly and bypasses the lead runner from 1B to get the batter at 1B, allowing the go ahead runner to score. Even tho the play results in a DP after the runner between 1B and 2B is tagged out in a rundown, the crucial run has scored. You either go for the go ahead run at the plate or the DP. You can't let the lead runner go and them get the out at 1B and then get the remaining runner out in a rundown while allowing the lead run to score in the 11th. It's so great that Hurdle is such a great "motivator" (he has motivated them to 78, 75, 82 and now even fewer wins the last 4 years) but his teams always reek of poor fundamentals.


That was a classic blunder.

3C3B2D252B3C7B770E29232F2722602D21234E0 wrote: Yet ANOTHER fundamental blunder to lose the game. On the game winning play for Seattle with runners at 1st and 3rd the ball is hit to 2B. You can't concede the go ahead run in the 11th so you either go for the runner at the plate or an inning ending DP. Kramer fields the ball cleanly and bypasses the lead runner from 1B to get the batter at 1B, allowing the go ahead runner to score. Even tho the play results in a DP after the runner between 1B and 2B is tagged out in a rundown, the crucial run has scored. You either go for the go ahead run at the plate or the DP. You can't let the lead runner go and them get the out at 1B and then get the remaining runner out in a rundown while allowing the lead run to score in the 11th. It's so great that Hurdle is such a great "motivator" (he has motivated them to 78, 75, 82 and now even fewer wins the last 4 years) but his teams always reek of poor fundamentals.


That was a classic blunder.




low payroll teams make up for lack of talent by playing smarter baseball. Except sometimes they don't.

6A4C4D5A4C5C2F0 wrote:

low payroll teams make up for lack of talent by playing smarter baseball.  Except sometimes they don't.


There was a time when this management team was making smart decisions. I don't know what happened, but they sure aren't that smart now.