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Pirates to Tracy: You're out .. and you suck

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!, Oct 5, 2007.

  1. This from the P-G this afternoon.

    This comes after a P-G story in this morning's paper stating decision on Tracy "doubtful" to come today.


    Pirates fire manager Tracy, 3 in front office
    Friday, October 05, 2007
    By Dejan Kovacevic and Paul Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    The Pirates today fired manager Jim Tracy after two losing seasons, as well as director of baseball operations Jon Mercurio, director of player development Brian Graham and scouting director Ed Creech.
    Tracy, 51, went 135-189, including 68-94 in the season that ended Sunday, since former general manager Dave Littlefield hired him Oct. 11, 2005. Littlefield was fired earlier in the month, and the decision regarding the manager was left up to his replacement, Neal Huntington. Team president Frank Coonelly also was heavily involved in the process.
    Tracy was informed of the decision in a meeting at PNC Park this morning.
    Tracy had a year left on his three-year contract at a salary of $1 million. The fate of the rest of his staff --- pitching coach Jim Colborn, hitting coach Jeff Manto, first base coach John Shelby, third base coach Jeff Cox, bench coach Jim Lett and bullpen coach Bobby Cuellar --- remains unknown, even though all have contracts that expire at the end of this month.
    Also, assistant general manager Doug Strange was demoted to special assistant under Huntington.
    "Since my appointment as general manager, I have worked diligently to gather information about the inner workings of the organization," Huntington said. "After a systematic evaluation of that information, I have come to the difficult conclusion that, to transform the culture and chart the course for future success, these changes needed to be made."
    "I fully support Neal's decisions and share in his opinion that these changes were necessary to provide a new voice and a new direction for the baseball operations department," Coonelly said. "We are now fully engaged in putting together a new leadership team that will implement our vision for the club's future. I am confident that we will attract outstanding baseball professionals to these open positions who will institute the systems, principles and philosophies necessary for us to acquire, develop, retain and teach our young players. Although the challenges that we face to restore the pride of the Pirates are real, I firmly believe that we are well on our way to changing the culture of the organization."
    The firing of Graham, 47, came as perhaps the most significant surprise, a month after he was named interim general manager upon Dave Littlefield's firing. At the time, owner Bob Nutting called Graham "a tremendous asset." He oversaw the minor-league system for six years.
    Mercurio, 42, just completed his 20th season with the Pirates, his 12th in baseball operations.
    Creech, 55, joined the Pirates as scouting director in November 2001 and oversaw six drafts that most in the industry viewed as poor.
    Tracy's tenure included the 14th and 15th consecutive losing seasons for the Pirates, matching the second-longest droughts in professional sports history. The longest is 16, set by the 1933-48 Philadelphia Phillies.
    Before coming to Pittsburgh, Tracy was the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers for five years, with a 427-383 record and one first-place finish in 2004.
    The next manager will be the Pirates' 38th overall and the fifth in the 11 years since Jim Leyland left in 1996.
     
  2. In a semi-related threadjack...
    The P-G, is also reporting Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton and Hines Ward will not play Sunday.
    Translation: Steelers lose. ...
     
  3. pseudo

    pseudo Well-Known Member

    How do we fire the owners?

    Sincerely,
    The few remaining Pirates fans
     
  4. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Yeah ... the Pirates' word is as good as baseball gold. ::)

    That's like the Cardinals football franchise saying that someone's no good.
     
  5. Gutter

    Gutter Well-Known Member

    So does the gig go to Phil Garner?
     
  6. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Sad to say it, but I care a hell of a lot more about the threadjack than I do about the main story on the thread.

    Gutter, I wouldn't put it past them.
     
  7. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    Gaming the system, while playing the paying customers for suckers.

    I've met them. They chuckle, and rake it in.
     
  8. trifectarich

    trifectarich Well-Known Member

    PLEASE sell the team to Mark Cuban.
     
  9. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    So much for the new stadium being a catalyst for a good team argument. And whatever happened to the LaRussa/Jockety tandem going elsewhere?
     
  10. I was in Pittsburgh during one of the give-us-a-stadium spasms of poormouthing. I didn't think it was possible for me to dislike anohtre team's owners the way I did those birds.
     
  11. I would like to see them hire old Scrap Iron. Though I don't think hel'll do any better than Lloyd McClendon, who did a good job with the shit talent he had, or Tracy, who just plain sucked.

    New owners are the answer, but that ain't going to happen anytme soon.
     
  12. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    At this point, I'd take a Russian mafioso billionaire like several EPL teams in England have. Anybody other than the dolts running the team now.
     
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