Pirates Firing Manager Jim Tracy (1 Viewer)

[The Hank]

New management is cleaning house... again. Yikes, why am I still a Pirate fan?

link

Pirates firing manager Jim Tracy

Friday, October 05, 2007

By Dejan Kovacevic and Paul Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pirates have called a news conference for 3:30 p.m. today to announce the firing of manager Jim Tracy after two losing seasons.

Tracy, 51, went 133-189, including 68-94 in the season that ended Sunday. 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 involved in the process.

Tracy has a year left on his three-year contract at a salary of $1 million.

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 and the fifth in the 11 years since Jim Leyland left in 1996.

 

[nyftbl_giants]

New management is cleaning house... again. Yikes, why am I still a Pirate fan?

link

Pirates firing manager Jim Tracy

Friday, October 05, 2007

By Dejan Kovacevic and Paul Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pirates have called a news conference for 3:30 p.m. today to announce the firing of manager Jim Tracy after two losing seasons.

Tracy, 51, went 133-189, including 68-94 in the season that ended Sunday. 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 involved in the process.

Tracy has a year left on his three-year contract at a salary of $1 million.

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 and the fifth in the 11 years since Jim Leyland left in 1996.

i feel for ya man. doesnt seem like they ever try and get better

 

[yahtzee]

Agreed, being a Pirate fan is incredibly painful. Like a car wreck, you can't help but look at.

The firing of Tracy was the right decision IMO. He had to go. He wasn't developing the players and inspiring the right attitude in them. The culture and attitude issue goes much deeper than the manager though. I am happy to see Coonely and Huntington making wholesale changes. I just pray they can make things better. We'll see..

 

[The Hank]

Agreed, being a Pirate fan is incredibly painful. Like a car wreck, you can't help but look at.The firing of Tracy was the right decision IMO. He had to go. He wasn't developing the players and inspiring the right attitude in them. The culture and attitude issue goes much deeper than the manager though. I am happy to see Coonely and Huntington making wholesale changes. I just pray they can make things better. We'll see..

It really stinks because I'm such a big baseball fan, yet even with the great tradition of the Pirates, the management trots out piss-poor teams year in and year out since 1992... Who knows if I'll ever see a PLAYOFF Pirates team in my life time (20 years old). If the Pirates EVER became good here in Pittsburgh they would have such a huge fanbase and following, because PIT is such a good town for sports and are diehards. I think that Coonley and Huntington made the right move to cut bait with the old regime's staff, its frustrating though.../rant

 

[Drunken Cowboy]

This can only be looked at as good news. Tracy was awful. There is talent in the burgh. I blame a lot of their problems on coaching.

Why do all of their young pitchers seem to regress?

Bad Coaching

 

[Bobcat10]

Huntington is definitely coming from a very strong orgainzation where he's seen how it's done two different ways...John Hart 90+ payroll when things were a little more normal and Shapiro after that with less to work with (like Pitt).

But if you asked around here though, the front office is happy that John Mirabelli and Steve Lubratich are sticking in Cleveland.

I'm sure you've heard, but don't be suprised to see Skinner a major candidate after the Indians win the Series, although I think Huntington just said he doesn't plan to raid the Indians org.

 

[Stoneys]

I am glad that they didn't just fire Tracy, but also some of the top personnel. Hopefully we (the Pirates) can get good people into those positions that can gauge talent and are not afraid to spend a little bit of money.

 

[yahtzee]

What about the idea of Joe Girardi as manager? Assuming the Yanks don't hire him, he did a great job with the Marlins in 2006. That was a young team and he was able to get them to improve and develop. Just a thought.

 

[Drunken Cowboy]

What about the idea of Joe Girardi as manager? Assuming the Yanks don't hire him, he did a great job with the Marlins in 2006. That was a young team and he was able to get them to improve and develop. Just a thought.

I read he is on the list of candidates. He would be a great hire.

 

[CrossEyed]

Was glad to hear they brought Chuck Tanner back into the organization. Class guy who brings an optimism and winning tradition that the current regime has been sorely lacking.

 

[Drunken Cowboy]

Was glad to hear they brought Chuck Tanner back into the organization. Class guy who brings an optimism and winning tradition that the current regime has been sorely lacking.

Nothing against Tanner, but if they wanted to bring back an old manager to the team, they should have hired Leyland when they hired Tracy.