Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette reports today that Bucco manager John Russell, according to DK's internal sources, will not be kept after the season, despite his top secret extension through 2011. Neal Huntington, he was told, will live to see another day.
DK expects the announcement to be made official early in the coming week.
Funny that the guy who couldn't win with a minor league/waiver wire roster would get the ax while the suit that collected those players escapes unscathed. Just more proof that if you can't fire the team, fire the manager (although Huntington did, in effect, fire the team he inherited in 2008).
Our feeling is that JR isn't exactly Miller Huggins, but he doesn't have the '27 Yankees to coach, either. We're a little surprised; more with the timing than the decision. We thought they'd keep him around one more season, just to provide the young players with a bit of a comfort zone.
Hey, nothing like a manager hunt to kick off the hot stove league. Hopefully, it won't distract from the roster moves that have to made after the season. The biggest problem in Pittsburgh wasn't on-field management as much as off-field player evaluation.
Amen, and amen. The rot in this organization starts in the front office, whether it's Opie or Frankie who's actually calling the shots. (Per no less a source than Ken Rosenthal, there's more than a little question about that in some other major league front offices.)
ReplyDeleteYou really can't get worked up about Russell, who wasn't given anything to work with. But he was an odd choice to begin with, given that he'd previously been fired, or at least not re-hired, as a Pirates coach under the previous regime. Only in Pittsburgh....
Wallach would be a great choice if they want to go the first time route. I've always liked Bobby V, but he's older now and I don't know how he would go over with such a young clubhouse. Seems to me he might be better on a veteran team. Simmons would be a very interesting choice, given that he used to be the GM here, then had to quit after he nearly died of a heart attack. (He's since changed his health habits entirely and is supposedly fully healthy these days.)
The guy I really want to see here is Kirk Gibson, but I don't know if he'll be back with the D-backs or not.
From what I've read, Wil, Gibson is staying. I kinda like Simmons; I've wondered if he could have navigated the dire financial straits the team floated through if he had stayed healthy.
ReplyDeleteBut just like FAs, whether the Bucs can land a top tier talent is always the question.