2E293F37392E69651C3B313D3530723F33315C0 wrote: Bell with 2 harmless ground ball singles up the middle. He holds the bat high and behind his shoulder and swings down on the ball. He's strong enough to send ground balls thru the infield in a hurry but he can't hit anything except ground balls. Where's the coaching?
I’m to the point where I assume there is no coaching. How else to explain guys like Bell and Polanco. For the most part, the Pirates are worse now then at the beginning of the year.
How can this happen? Clearly the team has the following strengths:
1. one of the top gm's in MLB.
2. one of the best managers
3. one of the best coaching staffs
4. great scouting director
5. best analytic staff in baseball (way ahead of the curve there)
6. a bunch of young hungry ballplayers (NH said something like this on today's radio show).
results of all of the above:
below average major league team
Reaction of management staff and owner:
INCONCEIVABLE!
Sean Rod
Moderators: SammyKhalifa, Doc, Bobster
Sean Rod
595E48404E591E126B4C464A4247054844462B0 wrote: Bell with 2 harmless ground ball singles up the middle. He holds the bat high and behind his shoulder and swings down on the ball. He's strong enough to send ground balls thru the infield in a hurry but he can't hit anything except ground balls. Where's the coaching?
I’m to the point where I assume there is no coaching. How else to explain guys like Bell and Polanco. For the most part, the Pirates are worse now then at the beginning of the year.
Yesterday I watched the Cardinal game and Jim Edmonds, who now announces for them, had some interesting things to say. He had a great story about Rod Carew and how frustrated Carew became with hard-headed hitters of recent years. But Edmonds immediately transitioned to Tony La Russa. He said when La Russa saw something he didn't like, he IMMEDIATELY discussed it with players, coaches, the GM, etc. Edmonds said most people appreciate La Russia a lot more now than when they worked with him. But he had high standards and was a true control freak.
Our "coaches" seem to have very low standards, and appear to be out-of-control freaks.
I’m to the point where I assume there is no coaching. How else to explain guys like Bell and Polanco. For the most part, the Pirates are worse now then at the beginning of the year.
Yesterday I watched the Cardinal game and Jim Edmonds, who now announces for them, had some interesting things to say. He had a great story about Rod Carew and how frustrated Carew became with hard-headed hitters of recent years. But Edmonds immediately transitioned to Tony La Russa. He said when La Russa saw something he didn't like, he IMMEDIATELY discussed it with players, coaches, the GM, etc. Edmonds said most people appreciate La Russia a lot more now than when they worked with him. But he had high standards and was a true control freak.
Our "coaches" seem to have very low standards, and appear to be out-of-control freaks.
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Roberto218
- Posts: 257
- Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 5:55 pm
Sean Rod
I think that Bobster's analysis of Bell's swing is right on. I was thinking the same thing. When your hands are so high, you will swing down on most pitches. As far as Serpico, I think that they played him for Bobble Head weekend, and based on his performance, he may be gone soon. Frazier, Kramer and Neumann are alternatives.
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SteadyFreddy
Sean Rod
I have a friend who has another close friend who works security at PNC Park and sees the players out on road trips and what not when they get on the bus and he mentioned yesterday that the team overall laughs and jokes way too much for a team that has been miserable over the last month or so. He also said the only guy that looks like he has had enough is Harrison, and Cervelli reminds him of Cole as it looked like he has completely disengaged himself from the team. So take all of this for what it is worth but there is a little behind the scenes dirt on the Bucs from what I consider to be a pretty reliable source for myself over the years. I have no reason to believe that none of this is not true.
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Bobster21
Sean Rod
47607175706D52667170706D140 wrote: I have a friend who has another close friend who works security at PNC Park and sees the players out on road trips and what not when they get on the bus and he mentioned yesterday that the team overall laughs and jokes way too much for a team that has been miserable over the last month or so. He also said the only guy that looks like he has had enough is Harrison, and Cervelli reminds him of Cole as it looked like he has completely disengaged himself from the team. So take all of this for what it is worth but there is a little behind the scenes dirt on the Bucs from what I consider to be a pretty reliable source for myself over the years. I have no reason to believe that none of this is not true.
I don't doubt it. I believe Hurdle's 4 year extension was precisely for that reason. He presides over a happy team while they lose. Plenty of joking and dancing. Plenty of rest. Everyone gets to play a lot, no matter how poorly. There's no pressure to win and no one gets on them about losing. I think most players love playing for Hurdle for as long as they're stuck on the Pirates. Then when their sentence is up, they can move onto a real team, make some money and play to win.
I don't doubt it. I believe Hurdle's 4 year extension was precisely for that reason. He presides over a happy team while they lose. Plenty of joking and dancing. Plenty of rest. Everyone gets to play a lot, no matter how poorly. There's no pressure to win and no one gets on them about losing. I think most players love playing for Hurdle for as long as they're stuck on the Pirates. Then when their sentence is up, they can move onto a real team, make some money and play to win.
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rucker59@gmail.com
Sean Rod
7F58494D48556A5E494848552C0 wrote: How many times we gotta hear Greg Brown talk about how we gotta get Rodriguez going and what a great guy he is and how tough this has been to watch. This is almost comical now to watch Hurdle continue to play Rodriguez so much every game as bad as he has been recently. Im not even going to get mad anymore because it’s to the point now where it’s hilarious. You can’t make this stuff up anymore. Huntington said today all these starts were pre planned to try and get him going and so far the last 3 games he has started he is 0 for 9 with 6 strikeouts.
Painful today perhaps. But come October we’ll be glad he’s ready to roll!
:-[ Vice President of the SRod fan club that is disbanding faster than a soft serve at PNC in July.
Painful today perhaps. But come October we’ll be glad he’s ready to roll!
:-[ Vice President of the SRod fan club that is disbanding faster than a soft serve at PNC in July.
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CarolinaBucco
Sean Rod
This story sums up the pathetic state of the Pirates pretty well.
http://triblive.com/sports/columnists/t ... amondbacks
http://triblive.com/sports/columnists/t ... amondbacks
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SteadyFreddy
Sean Rod
It will be curious to see how the Pirates play these first 6 games of this 9 game road trip. They play the Mets who are 13 games under .500 and then the Padres who are 10 games under .500 and pretty much started this huge 10-24 tailspin the Bucs have been on in the last month or so. We will know for sure this team has quit and mailed it in if they go 1-5 or even 2-4 in these 6 games before heading to LA to close the road trip out. Hopefully we will see Clint continue to give Rodriguez at bats to see if he can get himself right because that is what matters most over the team and winning games.
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Bobster21
Sean Rod
45627377726F50647372726F160 wrote: It will be curious to see how the Pirates play these first 6 games of this 9 game road trip. They play the Mets who are 13 games under .500 and then the Padres who are 10 games under .500 and pretty much started this huge 10-24 tailspin the Bucs have been on in the last month or so. We will know for sure this team has quit and mailed it in if they go 1-5 or even 2-4 in these 6 games before heading to LA to close the road trip out. Hopefully we will see Clint continue to give Rodriguez at bats to see if he can get himself right because that is what matters most over the team and winning games.
I don't see it as quitting. It's a bad team with worse management. It was assembled with a cheap, largely inexperienced starting rotation and bullpen, and a lack of power. Bell was expected to build on his rookie year and be an offensive weapon. Instead, he's using a swing that practically guarantees ground balls unless he short arms it (which he frequently does) and pops up. That's not quitting. But why don't the coaches either fix it or let him work on it in AAA? Why was he allowed to bat cleanup for about 50 games while being consistently unproductive? That's on Hurdle. Why was Polanco allowed to bat 2nd for about 40 games when he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat? That's on Hurdle. When Meadows, Dickerson and Marte completely outplayed Polanco, why was Polanco included in a 4 man rotation instead of playing the best 3? And ironically, why was that rotation finally scrapped with Polanco benched for 3 games for the first time at a time when he was finally beginning to hit well? Why is Sean Rodriguez constantly utilized when he can neither hit nor field. Again, that's on Hurdle. Why are the players constantly lacking in mastering the fundamentals year in and year out under Hurdle?
I see no signs of the players quitting but NH and Hurdle certainly have. Hitting slumps are part of baseball. Other than Nova, the entire pitching staff has little enough experience that their struggles are not unexpected. But there is no excuse for the roster decisions, the batting orders, who plays and who sits, the lack of fundamentals, the failure to fix Bell's swing. It's been very clear for a very long time that this management team does not prioritize winning. David Freese talked about in in ST. Pirate fans hated Tony LaRussa. But LaRussa was obsessed with winning and would do anything to beat you. I wish the Pirates had that type of management.
I don't see it as quitting. It's a bad team with worse management. It was assembled with a cheap, largely inexperienced starting rotation and bullpen, and a lack of power. Bell was expected to build on his rookie year and be an offensive weapon. Instead, he's using a swing that practically guarantees ground balls unless he short arms it (which he frequently does) and pops up. That's not quitting. But why don't the coaches either fix it or let him work on it in AAA? Why was he allowed to bat cleanup for about 50 games while being consistently unproductive? That's on Hurdle. Why was Polanco allowed to bat 2nd for about 40 games when he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat? That's on Hurdle. When Meadows, Dickerson and Marte completely outplayed Polanco, why was Polanco included in a 4 man rotation instead of playing the best 3? And ironically, why was that rotation finally scrapped with Polanco benched for 3 games for the first time at a time when he was finally beginning to hit well? Why is Sean Rodriguez constantly utilized when he can neither hit nor field. Again, that's on Hurdle. Why are the players constantly lacking in mastering the fundamentals year in and year out under Hurdle?
I see no signs of the players quitting but NH and Hurdle certainly have. Hitting slumps are part of baseball. Other than Nova, the entire pitching staff has little enough experience that their struggles are not unexpected. But there is no excuse for the roster decisions, the batting orders, who plays and who sits, the lack of fundamentals, the failure to fix Bell's swing. It's been very clear for a very long time that this management team does not prioritize winning. David Freese talked about in in ST. Pirate fans hated Tony LaRussa. But LaRussa was obsessed with winning and would do anything to beat you. I wish the Pirates had that type of management.