Clint Canned

Here's a release you might want to read...

Guess the suits had a change of heart, or maybe Clint was trying a backdoor move. Either way, he and Joe Maddon are gone on the same day. More later...

Huntington, Hurdle Signed Through 2017

The Pirates announced today that they've signed three-year extensions with GM Neal Huntington and Manager Clint Hurdle, along with 2018 options. NH's old contract ran through this season, as did Hurdle's, which had an option year (2015). No financial details were made public. The agreements were finalized during the off season, but not made public until today, per the FO's usual MO.

"Neal and Clint have led a team of baseball professionals, in the front office and on the field, that has transformed the Pittsburgh Pirates into a club that again must be reckoned with in the National League," said club president Frank Coonelly. "We are extremely pleased that they will continue to lead this team in Pittsburgh."

"I have a tremendous amount of personal respect and appreciation for the impact that Neal, Clint and their staffs have had on our organization," said Pirates Chairman Bob Nutting. "My expectation has been and remains that they, led by Frank, will continue to play a lead role in our success for years to come."

Huntington, 45, has been the Bucs' general manager since September, 2007, and Hurdle, 56, was hired to skipper the club in November, 2010. Huntington inherited a 68 win club that he rebuilt from scratch with a media-grabbing losing streak of forever looming over his head while Hurdle took over a 57 win team from 2010 and rolled up 94 victories last year.

With the quick starts in 2011 and 2012 that were eventually short-circuited by a lack of depth followed by a playoff run last season, both extensions were a matter of when, not if. Huntington has helped put together a highly rated farm system and kept the payroll in check while Hurdle has outperformed his Pythagorean record in each of the past three seasons.

The two also work together well, something that was missing in the John Russell era when there was little communication between the on-and-off field staffs. Hurdle not only has NH's ear, but has a working knowledge of the farm system and has become the face of the Pirates, living in the city and attending the endless gamut of off-season events.

The Pirates are working on deals with senior staff members now that Huntington and Hurdle are locked up and the staff knows there will be continuity in the organization. Connelly is not one them; he said during the press conference that he was working without a contract as a sort of "at will" employee.

Clint's Evolution...A Better Team Makes For A Better Manager

Well, heck, Clint Hurdle must be doing something right: the BBWAA joined The Sporting News in naming him Manager of the Year for 2013. Ending 20 year losing streaks is a pretty good way to get your name included in the conversation; winning 94 games and making it to the NLDS just pumps the volume. In fact, Clint was only the second Pirate manager to take the cup; Jimmy Leyland (1990, 1992) was the other.

His greatest strategic victory was getting the club to buy into his mad scientist defensive shifts, saving the Bucs a bundle of runs. And it is a hard sale; pitchers have to limit their selection and location; infielders have to get used to previously unknown patches of dirt and grass. Both are unnatural baseball acts that he sold to the team (well, maybe except for AJ).

With the support of Neal Huntington, a believer in data-aided decisions, and IT man Dan Fox, the Bucs saved 68 runs with their glovework, mainly through the use of the shift.

Communication is his strong suit. He made sure the clubhouse wasn't fixated on 82 wins, even with the self-implosions of prior years. And he reconnected the team to the fans, becoming the most recognized skipper since Jim Leyland and making it cool to wear a Pirate cap again.

Still, it was just a few short months ago that the twitterverse was riddled with #Hurdled, and not in a nice way. He couldn't put together a coherent batting order, his guys ran the bases like they were on kamakazi missions, opponents stole bases like they were a two-year old's candy, and puh-leeze, with the bunts!!!  Ends up his flaws mirrored those of the team.

He's kinda partial to a straightforward, everyday batting order, as he showed in September when Marlon Byrd and Justin Morneau arrived. Before then - and we're talking a couple of seasons - he had no order to put together. Even now, if JT and/or Starling Marte is out of the lineup, the #2 hitter could be anyone from Neil Walker to Jordy Mercer, and that's a not on Hurdle but the makeup of the team.

That "play the best eight" view is supported by his use of Morneau and Pedro; they didn't get a break against lefties, though neither could hit them worth a lick. Ditto with Neil Walker, who couldn't hit righties, and Clint Barmes, who couldn't hit, well, anybody. Yet he did stick to straight platoons, like Jones/Sanchez and whomever in RF. So we'll see what kind of comfort level he finds for the lineup in coming years.

The baserunning has actually become a strong point, other than a lack of consistent base stealing, and that problem looks more and more like its roots are sunk in minor league league training. The Bucs go from first to third as well as anyone in the league on the basepaths, even with a lineup that plods with a couple of notable exceptions. They scored 141 runs by coming in from second on a single or first on a double.

As far as controlling the opponents running game, the Pirates made Hurdle look like a turn-around artist when their first free agent signing for 2013 was Russell Martin. Not a whole lot of genius involved in swapping out Rod Barajas for Russ, though the coaching staff did get more buy-in from the pitchers as far as keeping runners close and varying their delivery times to the plate.

Hurdle's maddening bunt 24/7 tactics took a sharp dive this year as he found a little added (if misplaced) confidence in the batters to score more than twice a game. The Pirates still had trouble with the contact play; only two MLB teams (Boston and Milwaukee) had more guys thrown out at home. It could be that's not Hurdle's bad; the Bucco batters roll a lot of balls to the left side with a runner on third. Still, it's incumbent on the coaching staff to have guys look to go up the middle or in the air rather than frittering away runs.

The way he handles pitchers is pretty cut and dried; he much prefers a reliever to open an inning, particularly later in the game, than jump into the fire. Hurdle is also a strict time manager. He even counts warming up in his formula for over-use. Generally, Hurdle doesn't look for pitching match-ups, and that allows him to carry a deep bullpen without a LOOGY specialist.

The only quibble we have with pitching is that he doesn't seem to have a hard line on when to pull a pitcher; second sight has given us plenty of examples of a guy yanked with an inning left in him or kept in a couple of batters too long.

Our take is that strategically, Clint is in the middle of the pack. But he does have qualities that transcend on field decisions. He's not only capable of making data-driven adjustments, but can sell them to the players. He never varies from his tomorrow is another day philosophy, and this year it paid off. Even with a couple of rough patches, the club never had a season-threatening spiral and didn't lose more than four in a row at any point of the season. He even had a three-man council of vets to serve as a sounding board during the season.

Managing is about leadership and getting players to perform. Even with a lineup that had three positions (RF, SS, 1B) in flux and pitchers pulled from the rotation, he never, at least publicly, lost the players involved in the bake-and-shake. He led the team to 94 wins, six over its Pythagorean projection of 88, and that was the difference between having the wild card at a manic, black-out PNC Park instead of on the road.

Communication, consistency, leadership and adapting to the new sabermetric/eyeball mix in baseball is the calling card of the new wave of managers. The Joe Maddons represent the breed, rather than the by the book guys like Dusty Baker. And Clint Hurdle fits right in with that movement. He connects to the team and the City, and he'll get the max out of what Neal Huntington gives him.

Bucs Extend Hurdle

Well, Clint Hurdle doesn't have to worry about being a lame duck this season. Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review reported yesterday that multiple sources confirmed to him that Hurdle will be re-signed through the 2014 season with an option for 2015. Biertempfel expects the official announcement tomorrow (EDIT - The Pirates announced that they exercised Hurdle's 2014 contract option today and added a club option for 2015) when Bob Nutting arrives in camp. Sure beats the days when the FO signed John Russell in 2010 without announcing it.

This was the third and final season of Hurdle's contract. He's put up a slate of 151-173 (.466), winning 72 games in 2011 and 79 last season. That was the Bucs' best back-to-back finish since 1996-7, when Jimmy Leyland in his last year, followed by Gene Lamont in his first, led Pittsburgh to 152 victories. The 79 wins last year matched the team high, joining Lamont's 1997 campaign, since the NLCS club of 1992.

Hurdle was selected after Russell's disastrous 2010 year, outlasting seven other candidates, including Eric Wedge, Dale Sveum and Ken Macha. While the final figures weren't released, the general parameters of that deal were that his pay was $1M+ annually and he was guaranteed through 2013.

Now all he's got to change are the post-deadline, dog day blues. The Pirates have gone 33-73 (.311) during August and September the last two seasons after playing 118-100 (.541) ball during the first four months with occasional stints as the Central's top dog.

We can't really blame Hurdle for those too much. In 2011, his overachievers had a couple of injuries and crashed; if you ever wondered what regression is, that season was its finest example. Last year, the FO fumbled the ball at the deadline more than the on-field product.

They brought in Wandy Rodriguez, but gutted the bullpen by losing Brad Lincoln and adding Chad Qualls & Hisanori Takahashi, watched the rotation crumble when Erik Bedard & James McDonald fell off the face of the earth and failed to land a bat of any impact. A manager is as good as his players, and Hurdle didn't exactly have an army of All-Stars on hand while chasing the Reds.

We have no problem with his extension; it's always easier for a manager to keep the clubhouse in order if the inmates know he'll be around for awhile. And it can't be denied that his clubs have generated interest and spun some turnstiles in Pittsburgh. Yah, tactically he has his maddening quirks, but he seems a good match for the club on and off the field. Let's just hope he finally figures out how to coach up the same results in the dog days as he does during the first four months of the season.

Because if he doesn't and the Bucs string of losing seasons stretches on, both he and Neal Huntington could be looking for new gigs in 2014.

Clint Hurdle's Opening Bow

OK, we've had time to knock down a couple of Brooklyn Brewing's best and contemplate the 2011 Pirate season. We were shaken out of our IPA reverie when we recalled that on this day in 1903, the first World Series opened in Boston. It was between the Boston Pilgrims and our Pittsburgh Pirates (The Bucs lost in eight games; it was best-of-nine), and we began wondering when the club would get into its next October Classic.

Rightly or wrongly, a team's performance is hung on the shoulders of its skipper. GW's theory has always been the players win or lose games whether it be due to or in spite of the field boss' brainstorming. The manager's job is simply to set up situations that allow the players to do their thing to the best of their abilities.

And Clint Hurdle danced through the good, bad and ugly this year.

Tactically, he relies on the bunt a little more (OK, a lot more) than we prefer and likes to use his pen by the numbers, which worked fine for four months and then caused some problems later in the year when the staff went south on him. Hanny got 40 saves, but many times was a spectator when there were high leverage innings begging for his presence while he cooled his heels waiting for a save situation that never came.

On the positive side, Hurdle showed some imagination putting together a lineup, and did a pretty good job of getting everyone involved (well, except Pedro Ciriaco) while depending on a swinging gate roster of AAA players. And Clint utilized the two-for-one and defensive switches as well as any skipper in the league. Our guess is that he'd be happier with an everyday order, even if it involved a platoon spot or two, but given the realities of 2011, he scuffled pretty well with the cards dealt to him.

And on the sunny side of the bullpen, he didn't blatantly overwork anybody with the possible exceptions of D-Mac and Jose Veras. Hurdle stuck to his three days in a row or 25-30 pitch outing limits for relievers fairly religiously, and he wasn't afraid to throw a young guy into a late-inning fire. That may not have done much for the record this season, but should prove invaluable for the growth of his staff and down-the-road evaluations. He toed the highwire of a longer-range plan without sacrificing day-to-day results as well as possible.

His work with the rotation was solid too, as he alternately stretched and protected his arms as the innings piled up. The perfect example was Jeff Karstens, who was weaned from a long-man's pitch count early in the season to a reliable inning eater within weeks, and then rested again when signs of fatigue showed late in the year. In hindsight, he could have used a sixth starter earlier in the year, but who could have predicted that his two proven workhorses, Paul Maholm and Kevin Correia, would pull up lame?

His pedal to the metal running attack had its up and downs. It worked great when McCutch, Alex Presley, Chase d'Arnaud and others with their speed were on, but led to some head-banging when the more lead footed Buccos tried to stretch the bases with Lastings Milledge-like results. The team did steal 21 more sacks than last year (although with a lower success rate), made great strides in taking the extra base, and did a much better job of situational running even with the occasional fax paus.

The team seemed to adapt to the running game better in the second half of the season, both because the younger guys that got the call up had wheels and the coaches got a better read on what the players were capable of actually doing.

As far as coaching up the players, his staff did wonders with the pitching, dropping the ERA by nearly a run from last year, and he deserves credit for keeping Ray Searage aboard. But his rep as a batting guru took a hit when the attack tread water in 2011. That leads to another chicken-or-egg debate; were the results due to coaching or the performances of Jeff Karstens, Charlie Morton and Hanny on the hill, and Pedro Alvarez, Lyle Overbay and the injury bug at the dish?

The staff did a good job at bringing the fielding up to par. It began to break down some in the final weeks, but that probably had more to do with the shuffling of players because of injuries and performance, leading to a shaky make-shift infield, than lack of preparation. That also shows the flip; the staff had the advantage of a fairly set lineup to work with for the first four months when they were catching everything. The positioning was by-the-book, a welcome change from the JR/Gary Varsho days.

But managers don't get rated for their coaching by WAR for good reason; the lowest-percentage calls look great if the players come through and the no-brainer decisions fall flat when your guy bombs. (We're stretching, but the team's Pythagorean calculation was for 70 wins, so we'd assume Sabermetric dudes would consider Hurdle as a +2.0 WAR this year). The key to being a good manger isn't so much on-the-field generalship as much as the role of ringmaster in the clubhouse.

And Hurdle deserves good marks in that department. He let the team know who was boss quickly when he sat down Ronny Cedeno for not hustling out of the box, and doubled down when he did the same to McCutch. He was consistent in the way he handled players and assignments, even if that meant Lyle Overbay got nearly 400 at-bats, and that fostered easier dugout relations because the players knew where the boss was coming from.

His locker room is looser and more player-friendly now than in the taciturn JR days. Hurdle is a booming and gregarious presence, and communication, important to a young team, is a two-way street now. The players have a much better understanding of where they stand and what they need to improve.

Just as importantly, he put a human face to the franchise. He's approachable, quotable and sometimes downright comical in his dealings with the media, and almost singlehandedly transformed the team's PR image, previously fronted by the dour and secretive FO, into a positive.

Will Clint Hurdle become a long term fixture behind the Pirate bench?  Well, as the old chestnut goes, "managers are hired to be fired." We think he's a good fit for the team now. How long he'll remain a fit will hang on the abilities of the players he gets to manage down the road.

No Retreat, No Surrender

OK, everyone's pumped about the three Buccos in the All-Star game. But what's really got everyone pumped is the team's performance going into the break.

Hey, gotta give the players credit. A couple of guys are carrying the team day in and day out, and for the most part, the plug-ins aren't embarrassing themselves at the MLB level. So props to the FO and scouts, who after three draft classes and countless dives into the dumpster have built the feeder system to at least replacement level.

But if the Pirates had to pick an MVP today, it would have to be Clint Hurdle. At first, we were concerned when he built a staff that mostly had deep roots in the organization. Our fear was that he would be too much the FO's man.

But now it just looks like a smart move by a man who has enough confidence in himself to pick the brains of the people who know the Pirate young 'uns. And there's no fear of him being a company man; his handprints are all over personnel decisions for the big club, something JR appeared removed from during his stay.

As an X and O manager, he has his strengths and weaknesses. He preaches smart and aggressive base running, and has the aggressive part down pat with his team. The smart, well, that's a work in progress. Hurdle bunts like he gets a bonus for every ball laid down; we'd like to see him hit-and-run or steal a base more often in certain situations rather than waste the at-bat.

His lineups are sometimes head scratchers. But that's often because his choices are so limited in trying to build a middle for his order; you can't bat everyone sixth, seventh and eighth.

Hurdle does a masterful job of handling his staff. Sometimes he lets a starter hang around too long, and puts a pup out of the pen into a higher-leverage situation than you'd expect. But if you want your starters to go deep into games and your relievers to grow, that's just the ticket, and that's also his message since day one. His words and actions are one and the same.

And that's where Clint Hurdle really shines. His mantra has been threefold: play the game right, play the season a game at a time, and play with a belief in yourself. It's not often that the skipper is the locker room leader, but Hurdle comes as close as any manager we've seen in town to being the man, along with Jim Leyland and Chuck Tanner. It's because of the consistency in his approach.

His team plays hard for him, and when they don't, he gets their attention. Hey, everybody sits Ronny Cedeno down at some point, but when McCutch is sent to detention hall, well, that's a lesson in accountability that no one on the roster - or organization - can miss.

If you're not playing up to par, he doesn't hesitate to plug in somebody else. Just ask Cedeno, Garrett Jones or Lyle Overbay. He rewards good play both in the lineup and in the media, and the players know that he's got their back if they give him the effort he wants.

The hardest thing in sports is to get players to wear blinders and blot out yesterday and tomorrow. A six game losing streak, a couple of weeks of scoring just once or twice per game, an ugly gift-wrapped loss or a blow-out defeat would have sent the old Bucs into a season-killing tailspin. Now it's just "OK, we'll go get 'em tomorrow." That's a combination of a leader who doesn't panic and a team that's beginning to mature as big league players.

The true sea change on the team has been the confidence and swagger they play with now. With the rash of injuries, Pittsburgh had a ready-made excuse to fold their tent. But Hurdle has the players convinced that they wear a jersey that says "Pirates" because they're major league players whose time has come and not just temporary help.

Being able to communicate that isn't easy, but if there's one thing Hurdle can do, and pretty loudly, it's keep his boys in the loop. And that prevents the potholes that sprout every season from becoming canyons.

He's had help along the way from the evaluators. Paul Maholm, Jeff Karstens and Joel Hanrahan have been stalwarts on the hill, and the rest of the rotation has been fairly dependable, so much so that Ohlie may find himself in the pen when he comes back. Jose Veras, Chris Resop and Daniel McCutchen have effectively covered the loss of Evan Meek. Ray Searage has helped immensely, not just by opening two-way lines of communication but by allowing the pitchers to work to their strengths. Joe Kerrigan and Jeff Andrews he ain't.

The defense has been quite solid behind the pitch-to-contact staff, and that's because the starting eight were, for the first time during the Neal Huntington era, in place by Opening Day. The replacement guys have generally been decent with the glove and quick rather than plodders, which plays into Hurdle's preferred style. McCutch, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata had gotten their feet wet already. So he walked into a situation where some pieces were in place and a little organizational depth had been developed.

But this is still very much a team in transition with holes to patch, and nowhere near the club they should be talent-wise a couple of years down the road. But the players on the field are going hard all nine innings every day, and if the pitching holds up, it'll make for a very interesting second half of the season and finally provide a launching pad for the future.

Bruce Springsteen stole a line from the skipper when he sang: "No retreat, no surrender." That's Clint Hurdle baseball, and Pittsburgh is lovin' it.

Hurdle Speaks

Clint Hurdle was interviewed by MLB.com recently, and here's what he had to say:

-- On the roster turnover> "...at the end of the day your actions have to speak louder than your words. There's definitely some action been taken here, and there will be the rest of the winter."

-- On changing the team culture> "Everything we do is fun. This is a game you play. I'm not big on talking about working the game. We work in practice and we play the games. That's the way it should be."

-- On optimism for the upcoming season> "...we need to put a foot down and reverse a trend here...We can't just hope for it to happen or say we're going to need some time to make it happen. We need to start to make it happen right now."

-- On the new coaching staff> "We were looking for guys who are going to energize our players, challenge our players and encourage our players...The players are going to look to my coaching staff and myself for direction and guidance. They're going to look at how we handle our day-to-day activities, how we handle winning, how we handle losing, how we handle adversity, how we handle success."

Hurdle Chat & the Daily News

-- Clint Hurdle had his first chat with the fans this afternoon. A few notable quotes:

* "Bunting when appropriate will be an option, the hit and run will be a play that we'll depend upon and we're going to encourage a more aggressive running style of play as we enter the 2011 season."

* "It takes courage to have patience, and I believe this leadership team in place over the last three seasons has shown courage. Young players have played, and young players have gained experience. It is time for many of these young players to take that next step. This will always be a market where young players have an opportunity."

* "Pitching deeper into games for our starters is a must. The pitch count will not be an ejector button. As long as the pitcher remains effective, they will pitch on deeper in games."

* "One of the things we will ensure is the fact that most of the pieces we have in the bullpen can pitch multiple innings. No one will pitch more than three days in a row."

* "One thing the manager has control of is the lineup, and it is usually a task-efficient way to get a player's attention."

-- John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus tweets that Aki Iwamura headed back to Japan and signed with the Rakuten Eagles.

-- Giants catcher Buster Posey beat out Atlanta's Jason Heyward for NL Rookie of the Year, while his World Series foe, Rangers closer Neftali Feliz, topped Motown's Austin Jackson in the AL.

Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette caused a tempest in a teapot by voting for Posey, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata, bypassing Heyward. His vote is discussed by Dave Cameron of Fangraphs in his article "Bias or Insight?"

Hurdle Hired

OK, it's official: Clint Hurdle, 53, has the Herculean task of trying to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates back to the Promised Land. Hurdle agreed to a three-year deal (no financial terms disclosed) after telling the Mets that he wasn't interested in a second interview.

Kinda odd that he accepted the first Met face-to-face if he wasn't planning to follow through; it seems that he was after the Pirates position from the git-go, and for some reason - and there could be several - dragged out the process. Anyway...

The KC Royals took Merritt Island (Fla.) HS hero Clint Hurdle as the ninth overall selection in the 1975 draft after he batted over .550+ in the prep ranks. Hurdle was a great athlete and a pretty good book guy; he passed up a football scholarship to play quarterback at Miami and an academic scholarship to attend Harvard.

By September 1977 he reached the bigs as a 20-year old. Hurdle homered in his first game, and the following season Sports Illustrated ran a cover story on him, labeling him a can't-miss phenom. Never believe cover stories.

Hurdle did well with the Royals and batted .329 in the strike-shortened 1981 season, but he hurt his back and never regained the touch. He did last ten seasons in the show with the Royals (1977-81), Reds (1982), Mets (1983-85, '87) and Cardinals (1986).

He played outfield, first base, third base, catcher and DH, finishing with 32 career home runs, 193 RBI and a career average of .259 in 515 big league games.

In 1988, a year after retiring as a player, Hurdle was named manager of Class A St. Lucie by the Mets, advancing to AA and then AAA. After six seasons and three post-season appearances as a manager in the New York farm system, he became the Rockies' hitting coach in 1997 and replaced Buddy Bell as manager in 2002.

Hurdle managed the Colorado Rockies for parts of eight seasons between 2002-09. He took them to the World Series in 2007 after the Rox memorable "Rocktober" run, and so earned the managing reins for the NL in the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

That 2007 season, however, was his only one in Colorado with a winning record, and he was fired in early 2009 after an 18-28 start. Hurdle went 534-625, and he became the longest-tenured and winningest manager in Rox history.

Hurdle went to work as an analyst for the MLB Network in 2009 and then took the job as the Rangers' hitting coach for the 2010 season.

Hurdle and his wife Karla have two children, Madison and Christian, and an older daughter, Ashley. Madison has Prader-Willi syndrome, an incurable genetic disorder. Hurdle is a national spokesperson for the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association and holds a fundraiser in Cocoa Beach, Florida for the cause every year.

While the Pirates took a serpentine path to land Hurdle - do you think Eric Wedge would have waited a month like twisting-in-the-wind Jeff Banister did? - he does have the bona fides for the job.

He's experienced and has worked with young teams. He's been in the playoffs and the World Series. He just put in time with the AL champs, the Texas Rangers, a team that led the league with a .276 BA under his tutelage as a hitting coach. Players consider him an excellent motivator and extremely approachable. He speaks Spanish, so he and his his Latino charges don't need a third party. He's also a well prepared guy, never caught without a notebook.

There are two things that could swing either way. One is that he runs a highly structured show; you know how he wants the game played and what he expects. For a young team, that's usually a good thing, although it chafed somewhat on his squad. But as his team matured, he loosened the reins, maybe swinging too much the other way. Hopefully the Rox experience taught him when to push and when to step back.

Secondly, the man has a jones for bunting; the Rox led the league in sac bunts three times and finished in the top three five times during his reign. After watching JR bunt lead-off doubles over, we're still a little leery of the concept. But overall, he's pretty much considered an NL, by-the-book strategist, a welcome change from the off-the-wall moves made by Russell.

Now he's going through his staff wish-list. It's thought that a couple of the old JR guys could be in his mix, but we'll see. A new manager should get to bring in his own hires, although an argument for continuity and familiarity can be made, too. And he's working with the FO to provide input on personnel available through free agency or the trade market.

On paper, Clint Hurdle is a good hire. But the truth is the manager is judged by his team. Hurdle may instill a little more discipline and adherence to fundamentals, but it's up to Neal Huntington to provide the players...and that's what will determine Hurdle's success.