Saturday, October 6th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
The Obligatory Jim Tracy Firing Post
Well, it has finally happened. Jim Tracy is out of the job that he should not have had in the first place, taking his idiotic passive managing style to some other team or bench job. Tracy was one of the worst managers in the game until yesterday, when he was unsurprisingly not in the game anymore.
From his unwillingness to stand up for his players to his inability to spark a young clubhouse to his insane managing decisions, Tracy seemed to be out to lose games at times. However, Tracy should not have even had the chance to manage the team. If the Pirates had been run by any other general manager than Dave Littlefield two winters ago, either Ken Macha or Jim Leyland would have been the last manager. And both would have been better choices than Tracy.
If you recall, Leyland had expressed interest in the job, but by the time Littlefield finally decided that he should call the local legend, Leyland had already signed with Detroit. In Macha’s case, he was not content with his job in Oakland and was undergoing strife with GM Billy Beane. Macha was “fired” by Beane, went through the interview process with the Pirates, became the other finalist opposite Tracy, was passed over for Littlefield’s guy, and then resigned with Oakland only to be fired a season later. Macha is now apparently with the Pirates in some capacity, but, unfortunately, not that of manager.
Littlefield’s choice was pretty simple. Choose the guy who had made the least out of his talent (Tracy) or one of two guys who had excelled at making something out of nothing (Leyland or Macha). As in most decisions, Littlefield took the wrong one, a mistake that has now been righted.
Perhaps more importantly, however, the Pirates also fired Brian Graham and Ed Creech, with Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly making the point that there is a whole new beginning for the team. Creech was obviously out, as he has conducted bad draft after bad draft since being hired by the Pirates. There was speculation, however, that Graham would stay on board with an Assistant General Manager position due to his past connections with Huntington. Thankfully, he was fired and there will be new decisions makers put in charge of scouting and in the front office.
The idea of a new beginning both in the front office and on the field is vital for the team as the cast that Littlefield put together is almost certainly not going to reach the contending level that he claimed they would and will be lucky to develop past mediocrity.
Huntington must be careful in his hire of a manager as it more than likely has to be half teacher, someone who is willing to show the young players what they need to do to continue to become better baseball players, half motivator, someone willing to kick the players into gear once in a while, something Tracy simply did not seem capable of. If the rumors are true and Joel Skinner is being considered, that looks like it could be an intriguing hire.
Skinner and Huntington obviously work well as shown by their 10 years working together in the Indians’ organization, but I am becoming a little bit worried that the Pirates are becoming the Indians National League. Granted, Huntington knows these people best, but he does not seem to be forging his own team’s identity, only stealing that of his former employer (of course, that former employer is about to win its playoff series and advance to the American League Championship Series).
Other names mentioned include Joe Girardi (yeah, right), Dave Clark (would be an interesting coach), Trent Jewett (should definitely have an interview, probably worth consideration as a coach), Macha (would also be worth an interview and a coaching job if he doesn’t want to manage), and Rich Donnelly (I hope not).
With all of that said, the Pirates should definitely try to keep 3B Coach Jeff Cox around as the coach is very funny but, more importantly, is not noticeable. There were not very many instances last season where his calls were at fault, as there had been in past seasons with other third base coaches were fans were left scratching their heads and wondering What?!
Of course, they said the same thing when Dave Littlefield hired Jim Tracy.
Hopefully they won’t be saying it when Neal Huntington announces that Joel Skinner will be the ne
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