Russell ousted as manager

By Jeff

The city of Pittsburgh might be in mourning today after the Steelers suffered a last-minute loss to the Baltimore Ravens yesterday, but many will find reason to rejoice as well.

The Post-Gazette is reporting that the Pirates fired manager John Russell this morning.

Russell's decisions made all
Pirates fans feel this way.

The move should come as no surprise to anyone. The Pirates lost 105 games this season and 299 total under Russell's watch (The story above says they were 186-289, but I think Dejan had a typo). A change was needed.

The biggest problem with Russell, besides lack of talent at his disposal, was he just made bad decisions during games. With big right-handed batters up, he would shift his left fielder closer to center. He even did it against Albert Pujols. Doubles that should have been singles were common results to this wacky shift.

With pitchers, Russell never seemed to have a good sense of when to pull them. I lost count of the occasions where a starter was getting shelled, and Russell left them in to take the beating. Zach Duke might be emotionally scarred from these instances. Granted, Duke has been all kinds of awful since his rookie year. We're talking about one of the bottom 10 starters in the league on several occasions.

Not only did Russell leave pitchers in to die, he also sent them up to bat in bad situations. I recall the skipper sending Sean Gallagher (Unfortunately, not the watermelon-smashing one) to the plate with runners at second and third with two outs. The game was only in the fourth inning, so Russell didn't want to pinch-hit and use more of his bullpen. The runs were stranded and it was another blowout. I respect trying to save the bullpen, but in that rare instance, the bullpen was relatively fresh and Russell should have had no problem pinch-hitting for Gallagher and handing the game over to other relievers.

The list could go on of poor decisions, but I don't have the space and you don't have the time. If you do have the time, just go through Bob Smizik's archives, he's pointed out countless Russell blunders.

One thing I won't criticize Russell for is his demeanor. Saying he was not an exciting manager is a bit of an understatement, but fiery managers aren't always a good thing. Lou Piniella did nothing with the Chicago Cubs and Ozzie Guillen's White Sox will be sitting at home this postseason. Those two had success in the past that Russell will never have, but that doesn't mean being ill-tempered and emotional is a recipe for success. Russell could have come up with a pep talk to rival Winston Churchill's "We Will Fight Them On The Beaches," speech, and this team would have lost 100 games.

Russell needed two things to succeed as a manager here. He needed pitching and good fundamentals. He had neither. One was no fault of his own. You can thank Dave Littlefield and his gutting of our farm system for that. But the poor fundamentals was all on Russell and his staff. A young team like the Pirates are going to be prone to stupid mistakes (Lastings Milledge will have more than most) and it's up to the coaching staff to limit these brain farts. Russell failed in this.

So now that Russell is out, who is the next victim? It's a tough task ahead for the Pirates. Not only do they have to find someone who fits, but they have to find someone who wants the job. Joe Torre and Bobby Valentine are going to be too expensive, and who really wants Valentine? Ken Macha was just fired by the Milwaukee Brewers, but how would he work here? He couldn't get a winning team out of Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart and Yovanni Gallardo is a bad division.

Obviously, I have no idea who the Pirates should get. I do know it will be hard for them to do worse than Russell. But I also know that I've said that before.

The Ohio Players - Fire