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01-21-2003, 01:36 AM
Smizik: Littlefield's savvy gives Pirates hope
Monday, January 20, 2003
Among the good news coming out of Bradenton, Fla., last week was that third baseman Aramis Ramirez reported to the Pirates' minicamp weighing 20 pounds less than he did last year and that the weight of right fielder Matt Stairs was down about 18 pounds.
The bad news was that the Pirates have two players, both vital to their 2003 success, who are so lacking in self-discipline they allowed their weight to balloon out of control despite having sold their athletic services for contracts valued at six and seven figures.
Who knows? If Ramirez hadn't been carrying so many chins last April, his ankle might have been able to support his weight when he engaged in a scuffle in Milwaukee. Instead, it gave out, and so did his season and the Pirates' season.
As for Stairs, after he took an almost $3 million pay cut last season, you would think he would have been motivated to reinvent his career instead of allowing his numbers to decline, with the notable exceptions of weight and waist.
But on to brighter topics.
If you're a baseball junkie -- and our numbers are diminishing annually -- the Pirates' mid-winter sojourn to Bradenton got the blood flowing. Minicamp was a signal that spring training is just weeks away.
The high point of the off-season has not been the relatively minor deals that brought Stairs, first baseman Randall Simon and middle-inning reliever Matt Herges to the Pirates. Rather, it's the continuing evolution of Dave Littlefield as general manager of a small-market team.
It's Littlefield, not Stairs, Simon and Herges, who offers hope for the future. He's smart, savvy and no-nonsense.
He realizes the enormity of his job and makes no false promises. He oversells no acquisition and, in fact, usually undersells them. He understands the industry, as he likes to call it, and knows how to work it for the betterment of his franchise.
He continues to preach the difficulty of his challenge. Or as Syd Thrift, one of Littlefield's predecessors, said in looking over the Pirates of the mid-1980s, "It ain't easy resurrecting the dead."
If there's a man to get the Pirates out of this self-inflicted mess, it's Littlefield.
What everyone must understand is that there is no guarantee anyone can extricate the Pirates from this cycle of losing.
Even in times when the economic playing field was level, teams went decades or more without smelling a scent of triumph. Although the Pirates have gone 23 years without a World Series appearance, they once went 33 years (1927 until 1960) with a similar lack of success.
It's not as if the Pirates are the only team inflicted with on-going failure. The Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Montreal franchises can barely remember a winning season.
Littlefield still has work to do before the season begins. The Pirates' outfield is not set. They have Brian Giles in left and a platoon of Stairs and Craig Wilson figures to handle right.
But if they open the season with Rob Mackowiak in center field they'll be courting disaster.
Although Mackowiak has overcome enormous odds and made himself into a major-league player after being drafted in the 53rd round, he has shown little indication he's an every-day center fielder. The role that would best appear to suit him is off the bench.
Fans who are sitting around measuring the boost Simon and Stairs will give the offense and expecting a healthy Ramirez and a rejuvenated Jason Kendall to make significant strides should know this: It's not just about how good your team is, it's also about how good the other teams, particularly those in your division, are.
In 1997, for example, the Pirates maintained fan interest by staying in the division race until late September. In 1999, the town was turned off by the Pirates by the end of July, although the 1999 team won only one fewer game than the 1997 team. In 1997, a weak division allowed 79 wins to be competitive. In 1999, 78 wasn't close.
If the Pirates improve 10 percent, it doesn't mean a thing if the Chicago Cubs improve 20 percent.
The Cubs, for example, who finished behind the Pirates last year, have added Dusty Baker as manager, first baseman Eric Karros and reliever Mike Remlinger. Houston, which finished ahead of the Pirates, brought Jeff Kent aboard.
The Pirates have a good program in place and a good man heading it.
But, as always, the most necessary character trait of a Pirates fan is patience.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1468.
Monday, January 20, 2003
Among the good news coming out of Bradenton, Fla., last week was that third baseman Aramis Ramirez reported to the Pirates' minicamp weighing 20 pounds less than he did last year and that the weight of right fielder Matt Stairs was down about 18 pounds.
The bad news was that the Pirates have two players, both vital to their 2003 success, who are so lacking in self-discipline they allowed their weight to balloon out of control despite having sold their athletic services for contracts valued at six and seven figures.
Who knows? If Ramirez hadn't been carrying so many chins last April, his ankle might have been able to support his weight when he engaged in a scuffle in Milwaukee. Instead, it gave out, and so did his season and the Pirates' season.
As for Stairs, after he took an almost $3 million pay cut last season, you would think he would have been motivated to reinvent his career instead of allowing his numbers to decline, with the notable exceptions of weight and waist.
But on to brighter topics.
If you're a baseball junkie -- and our numbers are diminishing annually -- the Pirates' mid-winter sojourn to Bradenton got the blood flowing. Minicamp was a signal that spring training is just weeks away.
The high point of the off-season has not been the relatively minor deals that brought Stairs, first baseman Randall Simon and middle-inning reliever Matt Herges to the Pirates. Rather, it's the continuing evolution of Dave Littlefield as general manager of a small-market team.
It's Littlefield, not Stairs, Simon and Herges, who offers hope for the future. He's smart, savvy and no-nonsense.
He realizes the enormity of his job and makes no false promises. He oversells no acquisition and, in fact, usually undersells them. He understands the industry, as he likes to call it, and knows how to work it for the betterment of his franchise.
He continues to preach the difficulty of his challenge. Or as Syd Thrift, one of Littlefield's predecessors, said in looking over the Pirates of the mid-1980s, "It ain't easy resurrecting the dead."
If there's a man to get the Pirates out of this self-inflicted mess, it's Littlefield.
What everyone must understand is that there is no guarantee anyone can extricate the Pirates from this cycle of losing.
Even in times when the economic playing field was level, teams went decades or more without smelling a scent of triumph. Although the Pirates have gone 23 years without a World Series appearance, they once went 33 years (1927 until 1960) with a similar lack of success.
It's not as if the Pirates are the only team inflicted with on-going failure. The Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Montreal franchises can barely remember a winning season.
Littlefield still has work to do before the season begins. The Pirates' outfield is not set. They have Brian Giles in left and a platoon of Stairs and Craig Wilson figures to handle right.
But if they open the season with Rob Mackowiak in center field they'll be courting disaster.
Although Mackowiak has overcome enormous odds and made himself into a major-league player after being drafted in the 53rd round, he has shown little indication he's an every-day center fielder. The role that would best appear to suit him is off the bench.
Fans who are sitting around measuring the boost Simon and Stairs will give the offense and expecting a healthy Ramirez and a rejuvenated Jason Kendall to make significant strides should know this: It's not just about how good your team is, it's also about how good the other teams, particularly those in your division, are.
In 1997, for example, the Pirates maintained fan interest by staying in the division race until late September. In 1999, the town was turned off by the Pirates by the end of July, although the 1999 team won only one fewer game than the 1997 team. In 1997, a weak division allowed 79 wins to be competitive. In 1999, 78 wasn't close.
If the Pirates improve 10 percent, it doesn't mean a thing if the Chicago Cubs improve 20 percent.
The Cubs, for example, who finished behind the Pirates last year, have added Dusty Baker as manager, first baseman Eric Karros and reliever Mike Remlinger. Houston, which finished ahead of the Pirates, brought Jeff Kent aboard.
The Pirates have a good program in place and a good man heading it.
But, as always, the most necessary character trait of a Pirates fan is patience.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1468.