It's been a while...

Just as my girlfriend predicted, I neglected to update this blog for several months.

Although my blog remained dormant, my life, thankfully did not.

A few events in the sports world have prompted me to update this blog...

1) Pirates Managerial Search

The Pirates wasted no time firing John Russell at the end of the season. While I don't think Russell was the reason the team lost over 100 games, I'm not sure he was the right manager for the future of the club either.

The biggest problem I have with the whole process is that people seem to want to see Neal Huntington lose his job as a way of ownership showing that losing won't be tolerated.

Neal smartly realized that if the team is not going to contend in 2010 (a fair assumption), it makes no sense to spend an extra $10 million or so to maybe improve their win total to 70 wins. What good does a 70-win season do?

Many teams remain in a hole for years because of this apparent need to show their fans that they are serious about winning. As a result, they sacrifice the future, spend money unwisely in the short run, and remain in a situation where your big league club is underperforming, and you have a less than promising future. Look at the hole the New York Knicks put themselves in attempting to win via overpaid free agents for years.

The Pirates have spent the most money on the amateur draft over the last 3 seasons including 2010 draftees Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie. Not to mention International signee Luis Heredia. They have a big league roster that has talented young players like Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata. The 2010 Altoona Curve won the Eastern League championship thanks to contributions from Andrew Lambo, and pitchers like Bryan Morris, Rudy Owens, Justin Wilson and Jeff Locke.

There is talent on the horizon. With likely #1 pick Anthony Rendon on his way in June, and Tony Sanchez on the horizon behind the plate, the future is bright.

While Pirates fans certainly have every right to be frustrated after nearly two decades of sub .500 baseball could, it was a necessary evil for them to get even worse before they could get better. Those enjoying the Pirates run of success in a few years can look to Neal cleaning house and building through a strong minor league system as the impetus behind the success.

Is it clear I'm a Neal Huntington fan?

OK, back to the managerial situation. If the Pirates do need to show that losing won't be tolerated, and somebody's job must be lost as a result of 105 losses, Russell is the obvious candidate to go. Why? Because a manager is not as important to the team's success and future as the general manager.

While I didn't have many issues with how JR managed the bullpen, his propensity to bunt often drove me nuts. Too many times I saw Andrew McCutchen lead off with a double only to see Jose Tabata bunt him over to third base, robbing the Pirates of a potentially large inning.

I was a bit shocked that Wedge took the Mariners job, and it seems no effort was made to even interview John Farrell. It's possible Huntington reached out to Farrell only to be turned down. With only Bannister, Porter and Carlos Tosca left as candidates, none of these names particularly excite me. I'm hoping that more candidates are interviewed within the next couple of weeks.

2) Playoff Baseball/Media coverage

I'm not sure what it is about October baseball that turns supposedly intelligent people into morons, what I've read on Twitter by people who get paid to write about baseball for a living has made my head spin.

While I didn't agree with all of Joe Girardi's decisions, I don't get the backlash against his using a binder which supposedly contains statistical information. Would people really prefer he based his decisions on nothing but gut instinct? The IBB to Murphy in Game 4 was inexcusable. The first 2 IBBs to Josh Hamilton in Game 6 were inexcusable, but I actually read one writer faulting for not using Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning of Game 4 when the Yankees trailed 7-3.

Really?

You'd use your best relief option to protect a 4 run deficit when there's a more important Game 5 the next day?

This writer's brilliant logic was that because the Yankees rallied to win Game 1 while trailing 5 runs in the 8th, they surely could win Game 4. When I pointed out that with a 4 run deficit in the Top of the 9th, their Win Expectancy (found on fangraphs in a matter of a few seconds) was around 1.4%, I was ridiculed for "liking math."

Is this really what we've come to? When intelligence and logic is ridiculed?

Like I said, I don't agree with all of Girardi's moves, and some of his moves were definitely costly, but Girardi didn't get shutout by Cliff Lee. Girardi wasn't overmatched by Colby Lewis. The Yankees were outplayed, and there wasn't a whole lot Joe was going to do about that.

The Rangers were a better team over 6 games. It happens.

My brother sent me a link that should be mandatory reading every October courtesy of it's about the money:

http://itsaboutthemoney.net/archives/2010/10/06/larry%E2%80%99s-rational-guide-to-the-post-season/

If we could get every talking head who appears during the postseason to do this, I'd have a lot less to make fun of.

I apologize for the long gap in between posts, and while there will probably be an equally long gap before my next post, I will attempt to post something when I feel captivated to do so.

Go Bucs!