Believe it or not: Russell is excited

Letters: Milledge another Hamilton?

Bob Smizik's Blog — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:13:15 GMT

Saturday, 1 a.m. Q: Let me preface my question by saying I'm in no way trying to cast a false aspersion

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

pittfaninlioncountry — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:01:42 GMT

Bill Robinson was not a career minor leaguer. In fact he carved out a very respectable major league career.

He played 16 major league seasons with NYY, PHI, and PITT. 1472 games played. 166-HR and 641-RBI. This may not sound great, but it was a different era.

He had a very productive four year run with the Pirates. 1976- 21HR and 64RBI, 1977- 26HR and 104RBI, 1978- 14HR and 80RBI, 1979- 24HR and 75RBI.

Hardly a career minor leaguer.

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

pittfaninlioncountry — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:33:04 GMT

Bob, you are right on with this one.

We have seen this many times. The Pirates call up a player no one has ever heard of. How many fans even knew of this guy? If they said they did, I can't recall one post mentioning him.

This is your typical Pirate call up. When he is sent down, we will never hear from him again.

At 28, I doubt we have the next Morneau on our hands. More like the next Doug Frobel.

Excuse me if I don't take anything JR says seriously. Was it not him that said he was more excited about the bats in this years lineup compared to the lineup of Bay, Nady and McClouth?

JR will be long gone before the Pirates have anything to be excited over.

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

cmh_steeler_fan — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:18:39 GMT

I have seen Garrett Jones play many games in the minor leagues. He is a fine young man, quiet with very grounded parents. I am rooting for him to succeed long term. I have seen him hit home runs for a country mile. His power can be awesome.

However, his bat seems a lot like Brad Eldred. Hits fastballs well, but seems to have trouble with offspeed. At times he can really press, and as such, his average often suffers.

His transition from being just a 1B and DH a few years ago to a RF was attempted to give him a chance to advance to the majors with the Twins. His defense in the outfield can be difficult to watch at times, as he can make routine plays look very difficult. Often he appears uncomfortable in his position, and does not always make the instinctual play that a lifetime outfielder will make.

That said, my hope goes with Garrett, AND my Buccos, in their endeavors to succeed. I hope Garrett does indeed become a solid #3 hitter for us.

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

BFGrad — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:39:37 GMT

IMO, Russell deserves a great deal of credit for holding the club together even as important pieces are dealt away in our never ending chase to the future. I don't know how many of the coaches Russell picked himself, but his staff is pretty good. I don't think it's a coincidence that infield defense, pitching and hitting have improved as a result of having Hill, Kerrigan and Long coaching those areas.

The sad part is Russell is the one who must pay the price for Huntington's strategy. Russell is the person who has to go out and try to win games with marginal talent.

As for Garrett Jones, the Bucs have had some good luck with older career minor leaguers like him in the past. Both Mike Easler and Bill Robinson were players as old or older than Jones before they got their chance and both were important pieces of Pirate championship teams.

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

dddfsu99 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:20:31 GMT

Californication is right on the money on all counts. I couldn't have said it better although I've echoed the same sentiments time after time. Nutting needs to give it up.

Owners voted for the current situation in baseball so that may be a moot point but the taxpayers in Pittsburgh did not.

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

Californication — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:15:25 GMT

ESPN yearly American sports franchise ranks are out for the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB. 122 total teams and in the ever popular "Teams that are Most (And Least) Committed to Winning" category it lists the Buccos .....

122. Pittsburgh Pirates

....most likely because the Clippers, Lions and Warriors have at least had one winnng season over the last two decades.

As I'm not quite the type to "turn over a new leaf"...I've decided to "crawl under a new rock" when it comes to the Pirates. It all starts at the TOP and NO ONE else is to BLAME other than the NUTTING in charge.

NUTTING should be removed from his position as a owner for two very real, quantifiable and logical reasons.

1) MLB Owners .... They are subsidizing the Pirates. The other owners who are CAPABLE of spending at least to the AVG salary of all MLB franchises and do so at least occasionally fund the growth of the value in ALL franchises. Owners who neither are capable nor inclined are getting a free ride in franchise price appreciation, MLB trademarked sales and gates and revenue sharing. Owners who do not meet min standards should be culled like stocks from the NYSE when they continuously trade below the minimum value.

2) PA Taxpayers....They helped fund the very well designed and built PNC Park....almost always rated at or near the top of all MLB ballparks. This park DRAWS people to the MLB games played there even when the owner does NOT provide a team at or near the caliber of the facility. This is a public disservice. If Pittsburgh's Parks were run in the same shoddy manner, the taxpaying voters would run the responsible party(s) out of office.

So, it's ALL or NUTTING with me from here on out....sorry you're broke young NUTTING but NOT our fault, give us back our baseball team!

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

Captain Tuttle — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:21:21 GMT

I watched John Russell get tossed out of the game last Thursday against the Indians. Even when he gets ejected it is boring.

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

Ya'Zhynka — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:57:29 GMT

There is little hope that a 28 year-old career minor-leaguer will turn the fortunes of a franchise. HOWEVER . . . Jack Cust got his first real shot at age 28 and he hit 26 HR's in 395 at-bats with a .408 OBP. At 29, he hit 33 HR's with a .375 OBP.

It ain't likely, but when you haven't won since Bubba left Little rock . . .

re: Believe it or not: Russell is excited

Navy Author — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:50:14 GMT

Bob, I'm excied enough about Garett Jones to want to see him keep playing. The problem is that just when someone shows a spark like Morton or Jones, then another cylinder starts to misfire like Maholm or Adam L. I wish they would get this thing tuned up so we could see if it can run in a race.