Who should the Pirates hire as their new manager?

The Pittsburgh Pirates are currently interviewing candidates to replace the recently fired John Russell. I thought I'd take some time to breakdown how I view the leading candidates.

Let's start with the candidates the Pirates have already interviewed. Their career Win-Loss record is in parentheses.


Eric Wedge (561-573)
Pro: Managed a young small market team to an ALCS appearance.
Con: Not able to overcome injuries and talent trades to meet expectations.
Overview: Wedge was the manager of the Tribe when our current GM, Neal Huntington, was working there. In 2007, Wedge led the Indians past the Yankees in 4 games in the ALDS, then lost in 7 games to eventual champion Boston. He was named Manager of the Year. His later teams were derailed by both injury and then by trading their star talent elsewhere (C.C. Sabathia, Victor Martinez).

I actually think Wedge makes the most sense, not only because he has a history of success, but also because of his connection to Huntington. The main reason why he might not end up with an offer from the Pirates is because he is also linked to other available positions, including the Cubs and Mariners.

----------------

Ken Macha (525-447)
Pro: Local guy with a winning record in multiple stops
Con: Not much success with fellow NL Central team Milwaukee.
Overview: A lot of Yinzers out there will say they'd love to see Macha come manage the Pirates since he's a local guy. You want to be careful not to get caught hiring a guy just because he's from around here. Just ask Pitt Football fans how that Wannstadt hire is going for them.

Having said that, Macha did not have a single losing season in 4 years with Oakland, including an ALCS appearance when his Athletics lost to the eventual World Series Champion Detroit Tigers. He got fired following the A's sweep in that series.

----------------

John Gibbons (305-305)
Pro: Managed a .500 record in an ultra competitive AL East.
Con: Has a history of disputes with his players.
Overview: Managed to have an even record through 3 plus years with the Toronto Blue Jays. Keep in mind that meant he had to face off against two of the biggest spending teams in baseball (Yankees and Red Sox). He also had to contend with up and coming Tampa Bay.

I think that should actually make his non losing record stand out even more considering Toronto isn't exactly a prime free agency destination. You can't ignore his run-ins with players. You have to wonder why several players did not respect him all that well.

----------------

Jeff Banister (0-0)
Pro: Familiar with the Pirate Organization
Con: Familiar with the Pirate Organization
Overview: Jeff has zero big league managing experience, and hasn't managed a minor league team since 1998. How can such a great talent remain unknown? Let's be brutally honest here. If the Pirates do in fact name Banister as their next manager, they'll basically be giving the middle finger to any remaining Pirate fans out there. The Pirates really need this next hire to come from outside the organization.

----------------

Bo Porter (0-0)
Pro: Would come from outside the organization
Con: No big league managerial experience
Overview: Porter is a strong contender to get the Marlins position because of his past history with the organization. However considering he's been fired as a position coach by both Florida and Arizona. I have a hard time considering him a strong hire for the Pirates.

----------------

Other Candidates of Interest

Fredi Gonzalez (276-279)
Pro: Solid managerial record and respected by his players
Con: Fired by an idiot owner (Jeffrey Loria) with unreasonable expectations
Overview: Gonzalez was 276-279 over three-plus seasons with the Marlins, but led both the '08 and '09 squads to winning records — despite a payroll that was by far the lowest in the league. When he was fired, a lot of people were shocked since he was 35-36 at that point of the season. His owner though had made a playoffs or bust goal and wasn't happy. Loria, get a clue and hire some talent for your manager to use if you want to talk playoffs.

Gonzalez is a favorite to replace Bobby Cox as manager in Atlanta. he may get an interview with the Pirates, so I included him in this article.

----------------

Phil Garner (985-1054)
Pro: Most experienced candidate of the ones listed, and is also a former Pirate.
Con: Not all of that experience is good
Overview: Phil has contacted the Pirates expressing interest in the position, and has stated that he would bring some new ideas to the position of Pirates manager. The problem is that Pirates management might be looking for more of a “Yes Man” and I’m not sure this kind of independent thinking would be appreciated here. After all, the Pirates did fire Altoona manager Matt Walbeck for thinking outside the box.

Getting back to Phil, His most recent tour of duty was with the Houston Astros. he took over midseason in 2004 and led Houston all the way to the NLCS. He then guided them to a World Series appearance in 2005. Houston's core was already old by this point and things went downhill from there.

Hiring Garner wouldn't be a HORRIBLE move, but I think that Wedge and Macha are just far better candidates.

----------------

Tony Pena (198-285)
Pro: Responsible for the only recent winning season in Kansas City in last 20 years.
Con: Followed that up with a 100 plus loss season.
Overview: I must start off by saying I may have a slight personal bias for Tony Pena as he was my favorite player when I was a kid. He handed me a baseball at the first Pirate game I ever attended. I still have it. Tony has a passion and fire for baseball, and has served as bench coach for a very successful Yankees team. His last stop was with the pathetic Kansas City Royals. The fact he turned that bunch of losers into winners, if only for one season, is still an amazing feat.

The main drawback with considering Pena for the position is that the Pirates can't even interview him until the Yankee's playoff run is over. I think if the Pirates want their choice of the candidates above, they may need to make a choice long before they get the chance to interview Pena.

----------------------------

So there you have it. Of all the candidates I discussed, I have to say Wedge would be my first choice followed by Ken Macha. Gibbons or Pena would be tied for third choice for me. Feel free to discuss this in the comments below!

What do Pitt and Penn State football have in common?

I have a very simple question for Pitt and Penn State football fans? Besides both schools being located in the state of Pennsylvania, what ELSE do the two teams have in common?

The answer is simple. Both teams are god awful. Both teams were severely overrated at the beginning of the season.

As I sit here and look at the flaming pile of dogcrap that is both offenses, you have to wonder how people thought these were two of the top 25 teams in the country before the season.

Every single marquee matchup both teams have faced this year, they've failed miserably.

Pitt: Lost to Utah (Currently ranked 11th in the AP poll) 27-24 on the road while being ranked 15th. That game was closer than it was only because of mindnumbing play by Utah at times in the game. Lost 31-3 at home to then 19th ranked Miami, who just got embarrassed at home the other day 45-17 to that powerhouse Florida State. Pitt also just lost this past weekend to Notre Dame who also does not have any marquee wins this season to brag about.

Penn State: Lost 24-3 on the road at #1 Alabama. Okay so maybe there's no crime in that, other than the fact the offense drove the field only to committ stupid turnovers in the red zone. Lost 24-3 to #17 Iowa on the road. Also struggled heavily against Kent State, Youngstown State, and Temple. Of course they also just got blown out at home by Illinois in the tempo setting game that might cost the Nittany Lions a lot of confidence.

My friend Chris Mueller posed a question recently. What team will end up with more wins? Pitt, Penn State, or Temple.

How many of you would have said before the season began that Temple would have more wins?

Penn State's problem is that they are inexperienced right now. It was a rebuilding year so this isn't completely unexpected. Pitt though was a darkhose candidate for a national champion if you believed some of the local hype.

The only saving grace for Pitt is the disaster of a conference they play in. Honestly all they need to do to go to a BCS bowl is beat WVU. Could you imagine a 7-5 team playing in a major bowl game? It could happen with this crew.

Oh well, at least we appear to have a strong Steeler squad to root for around here.

The one that got away - Week 4 Steelers Report Card

The Steelers played the Ravens at home with a chance to get to 4-0 and put an early stranglehold on the division. Especially as we saw the other division game unfold and the Browns upset the Bengals. Sadly, after two missed field goals by Jeff Reed, the Defense gave up a late TD pass from Flacco to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and the offense could not respond. Even still, the fact the Steelers got to 3-1 without Ben Roethlisberger is no small feat, and I think we could beat the Ravens down in Baltimore to even the score. On to the grades.

Quarterback: D
Charlie Batch missed some open wide receivers today. His total of 141 yards, no TD’s and an interception late just plain sucks. Granted most of the playcalling for some reason was asking Batch to air it out down the field. Where are the short screens? Where are the quick out routes? This was a Ravens secondary playing without Ed Reed. This team clearly misses Big Ben but at least he’ll be back in week 6 for our next game.

Running Back: A
Rashard Mendenhall had 79 yards and 2 TD’s against this strong Ravens Defense That’s one hell of an effort. Many of Mendenhall’s runs were successful because he improvised and managed to gain yards on plays that got blown up.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: C
Most of this grade comes from the playcalling, as I think the underneath stuff would have worked in this game, but for whatever reason the game plan was to bomb it down the field. When Randle El is your best receiver with 50 yards, you know it wasn’t a good day throwing the ball. No doubt this unit can’t wait for the return of Big Ben.

Offensive Line: C
The O-line only gave up 2 sacks today, They did allow Batch some time to make throws downfield. There were also some nice blocks for Mendenhall on the day. On the negative side, they had some critical false start penalties, including at crunch time when the team needed a first down to ice the game.

Defensive Front Seven: C*
I’m going to give a C with an asterisk. The Steelers front 7 only generated 1 sack and not much of a pass rush for the entire game. However anyone watching the game could clearly see Michael Oher of the Ravens false start the entire game and I don’t think he got called for it other than maybe one time. I’ve never seen such obvious missed calls. He was also holding James Harrison the entire game and only got called once. They did hold the Ravens running game to 70 yards rushing total, and James Harrison had a massive hit on Willis McGahee to force a fumble.

Secondary: C-
Was that an actual Ike Taylor interception sighting today? William Gay had some key stops on the next to last Ravens drive to force a turnover on downs. That’s about where the praise ends. Flacco ended up with 256 yards but it just seemed the entire game our defenders were playing off the ball and letting the Ravens drive the ball down the field with ease.

Special Teams: D
First two obvious screwups were Jeff Reed missing two field goals. Second obvious mistake was Antonio Brown running the ball from the Steelers Locker room to try and make something happen on the last return. He only made it to the 10. Randle El muffed a fair catch on a punt return and luckily recovered the ball. Everywhere you looked today, the Steelers Special teams were screwing up except for Daniel Sepulveda. The holding call on Keyaron Fox on our last punt was a killer.

Need more proof that the Pirates Organization stinks???

I've been a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates since I can remember. For a great many of my almost 32 years on this planet, the Pirates have been pretty bad. But you know what they are my team.

Some of the moves they make though are just amazingly stupid.

The Pirates Class AA farm team, the Altoona Curve, just won the Eastern League Championship. Their manager Matt Walbeck, was named Eastern League Manager of the Year. He has now won three league titles and four manager of the year awards in six seasons as a minor league manager.

You'd figure that the fact one of the Pirates farm managers had some success, that they might want to lock him up long term. You might even argue they should take a look at him moving up to manage the big league club since, let's face it, John Russell is awful.

But no, this is the Pittsburgh Pirates we're talking about. 18 straight seasons of losing baseball. What do the Buccos do? They FIRE Walbeck!! And they give some lame excuse that Walbeck wasn't following the strict rules being laid out for the minor league teams. They also claimed Walbeck wasn't communicating with the parent organization.

While this MAY have been the case, can't you look past some of that based on the results this guy has gotten? He was a 4 time Manager of the year. He obviously understands what it takes to be a winner. But I forgot, we're not interested in that if we're the Pirates.

Is it any wonder this team is stuck in an abyss? They fire unofficial pierogie mascots for saying things on their facebook pages about the team. Then under intense PR scrutiny they backpedal and hire the guy back.

The Front Office has made dumb comments mentioning dynasties. Let's try to have ONE winning season first okay?

I'm almost afraid to see who the Pirates take with next year's number one overall pick.

But getting back to Walbeck, maybe his Pirates days aren't over after all. The Pirates fired John Russell as third base coach only to hire him as their manager a short time later. Maybe this is just the way the Pirates go about hiring managers.

Backwards thinking...just like almost every other move they've made in the last 20 years.

The end of a sports talk era in Pittsburgh and what lies ahead

It's the end of an era for Pittsburgh Sports talk as 1250 ESPN fired their on-air talent and announced they will be changing over to Radio Disney at the beginning of the year.

There are several reasons I can see that led to this happening.

First of all their signal is total crap. Once The Fan went on the air and people had a clear FM choice, it was only a matter of time, in this case a few months, before 1250 was done.

Second of all, 1250 ESPN focused on hosts that were the opposite of what Mark Madden brought to the table, the only problem with this, and the ratings show it to be true, is that people LISTENED to Mark Madden.

Madden isn't afraid to tell you what he's thinking. He doesn't kiss the butts of the callers who say the dumbest things. I heard some caller today say that a quarterback is "taught" to underthrow the receiver intentionally and at least Ron Cook immediately said "You are wrong!" Madden would have said what the rest of us were thinking and probably said something like "You're a complete idiot"

I like Stan and Guy, but it's like listening to your Grandfather and his brother talk about sports. They have their place in today's sports talk world, and I hope they replace Vinnie Richichi on the Fan.

The Fan has a chance to snap up a few key people from 1250 ESPN and I think they would really boost their prominence even further.

Third reason, ESPN had to carry some national programming. This city prefers to talk about Local sports and local sports only. That's why Colin Cowherd only lasted a few months before local programming replaced him. Again this was an area 1250 suffered in because of their ESPN obligations. The Fan came in all local all the time and didn't take long to tie ESPN in the ratings.

The Fan needs better talent on some of its shows but the concept is sound.

93.7 The Fan may have won the ultimate battle if only because they are still standing, but I still find most of their programming to be quite boring. I am probably one of the biggest Vinnie Richichi haters in the city mostly because his public speaking skills are borderline high school quality. He stutters, stammers, and goes "Ahhh and You know" at least 30 times a minute. He also can't offer up a clear and concise opinion. He rambles on for almost two minutes trying to spit out a point and almost never seems to succeed.

Paul Alexander "Absolutely" has to improve which given his less than "Outstanding" history, I don't see happening. And it wouldn't be a morning show if Jim Colony didn't abuse a few of his updates. The first move the station got right was removing Jon Burton from the Morning Show.

Looks like I'm stuck listening to 93.7 The fan or trying out Fox Sports 970. Here's hoping ESPN Radio reemerges somehow on FM radio here.