Pirates hire Hurdle

[Post Count Padder]

The Pirates have hired Clint Hurdle as manager, according to SI.com's Jon Heyman.

Hurdle was also a candidate for the Mets managerial opening and he almost certainly would have preferred that job. He decided to take the bird in hand and it's a good hire for Pittsburgh. Hurdle just wrapped up a great season as hitting coach of the American League champion Rangers. He was the manager of the Rockies when they made the World Series in 2007 and compiled an overall 534-625 record (.461) over eight seasons as manager in Colorado. He'll have his work cut out for him in Pittsburgh.

[mookie]

Congratulations Clint! Probably need to wait one more year till an above .500 though.

[OleMissCub]

Best gum chewer in the business

[rawaction]

Wow. That's a good hire. They have some nice young position players. If they can get any pitching from their farm, they could make some noise in the weak NL Central.

[Northside Blues]

He's going to lose a lot of ball games and get fired within four years like every other recent Pirates manager. Managers can't turn crap into gold. The last Pirates manager to finish over .500 in his career with them was Chuck Tanner. To put that into perspective, Chuck Tanner was born before the Stock Market crash in 1929 - and was one of the youngest managers in the game when he was hired.

 

The last Pirates manager not to have a season where they lost 95 or more games was Danny Murtaugh. He died before Tanner became the Pirates manager...

 

And in Cubs random useless info, they have lost 95 games four times under MacPhail/Hendry. In the 119 years prior to that they lost 95 games just four times.

[hardcorecubfan]

Wow. That's a good hire. They have some nice young position players. If they can get any pitching from their farm, they could make some noise in the weak NL Central.

 

or they could fall apart mid-year and trade them to us

[UMFan83]

Was it really ideal to take the "bird in hand" if that bird is the Pirates job? I mean the Pirates job is going to be 4 years of horrible losing in a small market town and then you get fired and getting another job is probably 10 times harder. I know there's only 30 manager jobs, but there are really good ones, good ones, ok ones, bad ones, and then there's the Pirates managerial position. It's a death sentence. I would have held out for the Mets job and if I didn't get it, join another team as a bench coach and wait for your turn.

[javy knows my name]

I thought Hurdle was pretty bad. Like, more in common with Charlie Manuel than anyone else

[jersey cubs fan]

Was it really ideal to take the "bird in hand" if that bird is the Pirates job? I mean the Pirates job is going to be 4 years of horrible losing in a small market town and then you get fired and getting another job is probably 10 times harder. I know there's only 30 manager jobs, but there are really good ones, good ones, ok ones, bad ones, and then there's the Pirates managerial position. It's a death sentence. I would have held out for the Mets job and if I didn't get it, join another team as a bench coach and wait for your turn.

 

Jim Tracy got another job after leaving Pittsburgh. McClendon didn't, but he was kind of a hack to begin with. Hurdle has 7+ years managing on his resume and is now 53 years old. He didn't manage last year, and if he didn't take a job this year, who knows if will get another offer. There are only 30 jobs total, and only a couple that are actually open. I don't see anything wrong with taking that job. If he is there 4 years, he'll be 57 and may never manage again regardless. If he has any success there at all he will be in line for an extension, or have any number of opportunities available to him. You can make a case that it is a bad job for somebody to take as their first gig looking to make a splash. You can get labelled a loser early and never get a chance. But I don't think that's a risk for him.

[UMFan83]

Ugh maybe. I just don't see the Pirates turning that team around. Maybe he does. I know they have prospects and all that, but I mean I'd just get depressed out of my mind playing with a rag tag group of no names in from of 10,000 fans en route to 90+ losses annually. Just doesn't seem like a very enticing job. Agreed that if has success there he'll be rewarded hansomely, but I personally don't see it happening. To each his own though.

[jersey cubs fan]

Ugh maybe. I just don't see the Pirates turning that team around. Maybe he does. I know they have prospects and all that, but I mean I'd just get depressed out of my mind playing with a rag tag group of no names in from of 10,000 fans en route to 90+ losses annually. Just doesn't seem like a very enticing job. Agreed that if has success there he'll be rewarded hansomely, but I personally don't see it happening. To each his own though.

 

If Tampa and Oakland can do what they did, there is no reason Pittsburgh can't. At least they have a built in fan base where if they do have any success, the reaction will be strong. They would not struggle to sell playoff tickets. It also helps that they are in the same division as the Cubs instead of the Yankees and Red Sox.

[javy knows my name]

Ugh maybe. I just don't see the Pirates turning that team around. Maybe he does. I know they have prospects and all that, but I mean I'd just get depressed out of my mind playing with a rag tag group of no names in from of 10,000 fans en route to 90+ losses annually. Just doesn't seem like a very enticing job. Agreed that if has success there he'll be rewarded hansomely, but I personally don't see it happening. To each his own though.

 

If Tampa and Oakland can do what they did, there is no reason Pittsburgh can't. At least they have a built in fan base where if they do have any success, the reaction will be strong. They would not struggle to sell playoff tickets. It also helps that they are in the same division as the Cubs instead of the Yankees and Red Sox.

The reason Pittsburgh couldn't do it before was because of a totally inept front office. That's not the case anymore, and I could see them start to compete in a couple years