The pitiful Pirates
It's official now. The management of your Pittsburgh Pirates is now the most embarrassing collection of idiots on the face of the Earth. The incident that put them over the top came the other day, when the team fired a guy who dons a costume and participates in the pierogi races at PNC Park. His crime? He had the audacity to make a critical comment on Facebook after it was learned that the Pirates' "brain trust" had extended the contracts of general manager Neal Huntington and check-him-for-a-pulse manager John Russell. The reason I say that it was "learned" that the Pirates extended those contracts is that the extensions actually occurred months ago. The Pirates just didn't bother to tell anyone until the other day. And in the interim, team President Frank Coonelly lied about it. So, essentially, the team's owners and top officials are incompetent prevaricators, but it's the pierogi guy who has to go. The Pirates also totally botched the way they handled the call-ups of the team's promising young players. The Pirates claim that they're going to spend money to build the team when they need to. Well, they have the opportunity to prove themselves by signing the two stud pitchers they just picked in the draft. I'm not holding my breath. And only time will tell whether the team will pay the freight to keep players like Andrew McCutchen when those youngsters reach the point in their careers when they are set to earn real money, rather than deal them for other teams' garbage, as the Bucs have done in the past. Based on the Nutting family's track record, I'm not believing anything they say until it's proven otherwise.
posted by Brant at
8:32 AM
4 Comments:
That kid got what he deserved. He ripped the company that signed his checks, and then his mommy calls the media to complain. I can't believe the P-G put it on the front page because it's really not that important of an issue. He made $25 per race, which barely qualifies as a part-time job.
The real screw up was how Coonlley handled the contract extensions. Why should those of us who follow the Pirates ever believe anything Coonlley or Nutting say from now on? Not like we believed them beforehand.
What?? You don't think the Pirates got a good deal when they traded Nate McLouth to the Braves last year for Charlie Morton??!!
--Brad Hundt
Mike, I agree that the kid asked for it. But if the Pirates were thinking, they probably should have just gone to him, asked him to take down the comment and let that be the end of it. By firing him, they set themselves up to be mocked from one side of the country to the other.
Listening to national radio today, the kid and his "helicopter mother" were taking the brunt of the beating. I think it is more of an indictment on parenting than how to manage a baseball club. Imagine if I had my mommy call the Post-Gazette after the O-R laid us off last year.
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