Kerrigan returning as pitching coach

That's a start.

Yippee...at least one piece of good news guaranteed today.

Firsties!

Apparently, they took Donnelly's salary and gave it to Kerwin.

Perry? Are you there? Perry? Perry?

Excellent news!

Any word on if his return being questionable was strictly personal, or were there issues that needed addressed within the organization?

This explains the non-tender to Donnelly.  They moved his salary to Kerrigan.  ;-)  

Jason Kendall will be surprised to hear that the Pirates hired a different pitching coach!

Yes indeedy!

Have hope! Have PLENTY OF HOPE!

Rob Biertempfel reports that Kerrigan will be mentoring his successor throughout the season in 2010.

Outstanding news, now if they can only obtain Perry...and get some good free agents....and win a few games....possible new manager....and i would LOVE a new broadcaster or two...

Will he be traded by the deadline or a couple of gloves?

Demery,

It's obvious that Kerwin hated Donnelly and made it a me or him scenario.  :-)

STLRFANRC:

Do you like Tim Neverette? He's got a season under his belt now, replacing Lanny. What do you think?

That darned FO still not willing to pay to keep their best coaches! They are driving them out of town b/c even they know that there is no hope at all for this club!

What's that? He's coming back next year? Er....never mind.

Long live Dave Kerwin!

Maybe his understudy will be Dave Duncan...I do wonder, with all the money they're saving on payroll, why do they have to shift coaches salaries to fit one more in?  How much could Donnelly have made, $150,000-200,000 or so?

KERWIN-KERWIN  he's our man if he cant do it KERRIGAN CAN!!!!!

I vote for Sal Maglie.  We'll zitz him.  Give em some low smoke and then pound the ole Budweiser.

Maybe Troy Buckley can be the pitching coach in waiting.

Um...never mind.

GoBucs--the coaching pocket of money is only so big and, remember, they don't use money from one pocket to pay for something that is another pocket's responsibility.  Anyhow, I suspect it's not a money issue, but just there isn't enough room in the dugout for Donnelly and the new understudy pitching coach.  ;-)

i'd say this.....bring back lanny!! i cannot stand Tim whatshisname and lanny was getting on my nerves.  I thought Greg Brown was bad...but i'll take him over TIMMMAAAAYYY any day.

Really glad to hear this news ... and when Kerrigan said this ...

"They've learned a lot. They understand how valuable each pitch is."

Honestly, I almost started crying ... Now, folks, that's a guy dedicated to his craft.

It's pretty obvious that they must have set up Kerrigan with a 16 year old prostitute and liquor on an out of town roadtrip, took pictures, and are using those to blackmail him.

21 - you better be joking!

Kerrigan truly has a love of the game, and he has embraced this roster of pitchers. He is a kind soul, a talented man, and we're lucky to have him!

GoBucs,  there may be a limit on the number of coaches you can have on the major league level.

I want Bud to investigate this. It is so obvious that the FO has found a way for Nutting to make more money by having Kerrigan come back :-)

Maybe Jeff Andrews can hired back to be Kerrigan's understudy

Spin Williams anyone?

ThunderCrack

Maybe Jeff Andrews can hired back to be Kerrigan's understudy

____________________

I understand Andrews is very happy as a pitching coach for the Rangers.

I believe there is a limit on how many coach's can dress for a regular season game.

isnt pete vuckovich in the pirates system still?

how old is Kerrigan?

This is indeed good news, but we've cut the ML payroll big time, we have to cut a teacher, Donnelly to give someone a raise and hire someone else?

OK, fine, who's next Mr Tanner?  They better not

Work fast

Throw strikes

Change speeds

Sounds like there is a limit to coaches who can dress, but that's only part of the equation.  It seems to me, keeping him around would still add to the culture.  I suppose NH is referring to giving Donnelly a shot to catch on somewhere as an actual coach, but if not it seems like it would be nice to keep him around in some capacity.

leadoff - Donnelly wasn't dressing, he was a roving instructor, and how much could he be making?

Sometimes, and its me being old, I sit there at the ballpark and am amazed at the number of baseballs tossed simply for hitting the dirt.

Anyone remember taping a ball over and over so you had one?

They are like $12 a piece, and we can't afford another coach that can help spread the word?

But I must admit, don't know all the facts on his performance

Demery,

Ray Miller

KERWIN=kerWINS

prayers answered.

@demery- AMEN bro.

PRETTY PLEASE PERRY....

Please Hire Tim Wakefield after he retires this season.  If Hart could throw a knuckler he'd be an all-star.  

Good news!  Glad to see Dave Kerwin -- oops, Joe Kerrigan, is going to be with us for at least one more year.  I'm not going to read anything more into it than maybe he's getting tired of all the travel and such, and they just convinced him to hang on and mentor the next guy.  If that's the case, kudos to the FO.

POH -- I know you didn't ask me, but I can't take Tim Neverette AT ALL!  Give me Greg Brown any day of the week -- literally.  Whenever Tim is doing the TV broadcasts, I turn the volume down and tune into the radio side.  I listened to him for about two or three weeks at the beginning of the season, and that was all I could take.  If his voice didn't remind me of Skip Carey (one of my favorites), I might not have made it that long with him.  It's pretty obvious to me that Bob Walk doesn't enjoy his time on the air with him -- at least that's the impression I get.  Walk is my other favorite.  I love to listen to the radio broadcasts of Walk and Brown.  I think those two have a natural chemistry not often found among broadcasters.  Thanks for letting me opine.

Biz

Anyone remember taping a ball over and over so you had one?

They are like $12 a piece, and we can't afford another coach that can help spread the word?

But I must admit, don't know all the facts on his performance

_______________________________

Yes we were lucky we had taped up baseballs, also remember when we broke a bat, if it did not break in half we nailed it and taped that to.

As far as Donnelly, he did dress from time to time, but the money IMO would hardly be the reason they did not keep him, usually there is more to the story.

If anyone is interested, PBP will be in the lineup thread...

Thanks DMac, and don't be mad at me for talking about other than Andy yesterday

I will be good, just have problems with arrogance of others, not you of course

It's all good, Biz.

Here is some data which might inform an evaluation of the front office's decision to rehire pitching coach Kerrigan.

I've looked at 4 Pirates pitchers who pitched here in 2008 and part of 2009, and then were traded.

I've selected WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and BAA (batting average against) in order to use stats that shouldn't be much affected by moving from one team to another (to rule out such things as size of ballpark, strength of offense, quality of defense).

It sure doesn't look to me like there's any data to support a Kerrigan love-fest, or for that matter, hiring.

Here ya go (hope the tabs line up reasonably well)

2008 2009 Pgh 2009 elsewhere

S. Burnett 1.61/.271 1.14/.200 1.07/.157

Gorzelanny 1.80/.293 1.15/.194 (8.2ip*) 1.25/.239

Snell 1.76/.304 1.62/.282 1.51/.234

Grabow 1.28/.215 1.50/.246 1.11/.173

* spent most of 2009 while under Pirate contract in minors.

Officer,

There is nothing there, its all typical PBC spin

trust me donnelly wasnt retained because nh didnt like him because he spoke his mind and thats not the culture in the pirate organization.  they want yes men and yes men only.  he made nowhere near 150-200k.  he dressed for home games only and he only went on the road went beasleys father was ill and then passed away.  

the pirate organization and nh in particular are jokes and will be until they get these idiots out of there.  nh is number one and while they are at it maybe they can get rid of their farm director kyle stark.  the only thing he is known for is playing volleyball at st. bonny.  think about it your farm director for a baseball team only has experience playing volleyball and u guys want to know why we are in the state we are in.  

alll you have to do is look at sano's agents comments today and know that neal has and always will have this im bigger than u attitude.  i know for a fact that perry hill told him numerous times to get f---d because of his attitude.  i know for a fact that he said after all the trades in a closed door meeting that this is the foundation for the future.  fyi neal u have one major league player on your team andrew mccutchen.  nothing else.  u have the worst catcher in baseball history.  u have no middle infielders although nh made the statement cedeno is better than jack wilson.  i know this for a fact as well and im not a wilson fan but cedeno and his 210 avg for the year is not a better ss than wilson.

none of the coaches like nh as a matter of fact other than russell and his boyfriend beasley none of them even speak to him possibly kerrigan now will  because they overpaid for that antique.  an fyi for neal  he could have 5 cy young winners in his rotation next year and it wont matter if cedeno and delwyn young (who is an absolute joke) are his middle infielders to go along with jeff clement at first.  this organization is years away from conetneding.  YEARS. u have a manager who speaks in one voice, doesnt get in the players face, etc. etc.  they need someone like ozzie guillen.  never happen with nh because he would tell him to go get f---d on a daily basis.   i hope donnelly lands on his feet somewhere because he is too good a baseball man to be put through this nonsene.  hears to you rich good luck,

If what this always insightful front office wants is "someone who could work with Joe as his mentor", might I suggest that they convince Jeremy Sowers to retire as an active pitcher and take the coaching job here? Sowers is pretty much the picture of what a Kerrigan-coached pitcher looks like, as I understand it. Joe could mentor him.

What's Greg Maddox doing when he's not on the golf course?

bizrow, I think you miss my point. I really must learn the art of making myself clear in these comment boxes.

Burnett improved from 2008 to 2009 under Kerrigan's tutelage, and really took off and got hot once coached by the Washington Nationals.

Gorzelanny was not allowed to pitch this year (except for 8 stellar innings) because he annoyed Kerrigan. He spent his Pirates year in the minor leagues. Now that he's gone to a team managed by Lou Piniella, his w/l is 4-1, his Kerrigan WHIP  of 1.80 has become 1.25, and his batting average against has gone from 2.93 to 2.39.

Ian Snell may be a head case, but let's look at some numbers. Under Kerrigan's coaching in 2008  his WHIP was 1.76, and in 2009 was 1.62.  Freed from Kerrigan, his WHIP in Seattle has been 1.51.  His batting average against in 2008 was .304, under Kerrigan in '09 it was .282.  In Seattle, it's been .234. And we're not talking small samples here.

Grabow. Perhaps the best pitcher of the bunch. 2008 WHIP 1.28. 2009 Kerrigan coached WHIP 1.50.  WHIP since freed from Kerrigan 1.11 .   Batting average against? 2008 .215. Kerrigan coached in '09 .246.  Since freed from Kerrigan's coaching? .173.

So celebrate Kerrigan's hiring if you must  - and wonder whether the PBC uses data or an old boy network to inform its decisions.