The Pirates fired Manager Lloyd McClendon after five years on the job. I still think it's not Lloyd's fault that the Pirates have been so bad during his tenure. Before PNC Park was built, Pittsburgh and Pirates fans were told that the team could not compete without revenues from a new ballpark. There's now been a new ballpark for four years, but the team still can't compete. I don't feel like having a baseball economics discussion, so I'll get back to Lloyd. Would it have been terrible to wait until after the season to not rehire Lloyd? What benefit is there for the team to fire him now? Could they at least have waited one more week so there would be one final Pirates-Cardinals, McClendon-LaRussa & Duncan series? The big question: will Nick change the title of his blog?
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
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3 comments:
Of course Lloyd wasn't to blame in most ways. But it was time for a change. A lack of talent rarely saves coaches and managers anymore. Why should Lloyd's job be secure no matter what? Especially after an almost unheard-of 5 years of failure.
At first I felt the same way as you, that there's no point in cutting him loose now. Except that I now have a theory. The city will pay attention to the Pirates for exactly 4 more days in 2005. I think Littlefield wanted to say, "Hey, I'm tired of this losing shit" before the Pirates fall to page 3 behind every ounce of Steeler news. People will say "Hey, at least they're getting tough."
Also, theory 2: Rosters can expand now, and the young guys coming up may feel a sense of positive energy that the club is taking steps to improve. I think Lloyd was starting to be a real downer.
I'll buy your first statement over theory #2. Starting on Sunday (if it has not started already), the entire sports focus will be on the Steelers, and the Bucs will fall behind the Pens and even Pitt coverage. The key really is who will be the next Pirates manager. I think it needs to be someone who is able to teach, particularly with all of the young players. As much as I love Jim Leyland, I'm not sure if he has the patience in this point of his career to work with the young guys and hopefully be with them when the team is good.
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