Sports in Perspective
Follow me on Twitter @jim_krug Everyone knows the nursery rhyme about the boy who joked about seeing a wolf so many times that, when he finally does tell the truth, none of the townspeople believe him, and his flock of sheep (and in some versions, the boy himself) is promptly devoured. One of the most [...]
Follow me on Twitter @jim_krug I know the majority of my articles are about Pirates’ GM Neal Huntington, and the Pirates’ much-maligned ownership in general. I honestly don’t set out to do so; I would love to write more positive stories about the Pirates, but: 1. It can be trying to glean positivity from a [...]
Here’s a hilarious GM Neal Huntington quote pointed out to me by a friend, from an interview during the Winter Meetings: “We could have invested everything in one big blue-chip stock, or we could have invested it in a portfolio,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “We decided to take the portfolio approach. Again, we wanted to [...]
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/12/10/pirates-gm-neal-huntington-talks-acquisitions-winter-meetings/ KDKA-TV sports anchor Bob Pompeani interviewed Pirates’ GM Neal Huntington to wrap up the Winter Meetings, and the questions he asked were direct to say the least. If you have 4 minutes, I’d strongly encourage you to follow the link above for the interview audio. I don’t know Bob and he doesn’t know me, [...]
(Follow me on Twitter @jim_krug) In a vacuum, I like the Pittsburgh Pirates’ free agent addition of SP Erik Bedard a lot. Despite his age (33) and injury history, Bedard instantly becomes the only pitcher in the rotation capable of striking out nearly a batter an inning- a vital barometer for consistent MLB success. Outside [...]
First, let’s flashback to a poignant [club president] Frank Coonelly quote from February 21st, 2011: “Today, no but we will be able to support that payroll very soon if our fans believe that we now have a group of players in Pittsburgh and on its way here in the near future that is competitive. We need [...]
Instead of “Tebowing”, where one quickly kneels and prays in public, Pirates’ fans should coin “Huntingtoning”, where one suddenly gets down on all-fours in public, and randomly throws all the money from their pockets. In December, 2000, then GM Cam Bonifay signed OF Derek Bell to a 2-year, $9.75MM contract, which quickly became his [...]
The Pirates’ curious decision to forego 2 reasonably-priced option years for catcher Ryan Doumit was compounded last week when the club signed backstop Rod Barajas to a 1-year $4,000,000 contract, with a 2013 club option for $3,500,000. Barajas is inferior to Doumit in almost every aspect. Consider the following: 1. Age- Doumit will be 31 in the [...]
Happy offseason. Every now and then, I find something written about the Pirates by one of my friends that’s so good that a shout-out here is in order. I have a buddy from California named Brett who, despite having the former World Champion San Francisco Giants in his backyard, is loyal to the black-and-gold to [...]
Read my review on the Top 5 Positives here. #5 The run of contention until early August Wait- didn’t this make the top 5 positives list as well? Despite a surprising run of contention from April-July, the Pirates still finished 24 games back of the Brewers, due to an apocalyptic August-September. And despite a [...]