Pssst….Davey Lopes Would Look Great In Black And Gold

The Philadelphia Phillies somehow have not been able to retain their first base coach Davey Lopes. 

"“I’m not saying the money they offered was not good. Everybody will say, ‘It’s a money thing.’ That played into it. But there’s a certain time in your career where you’re pigeonholed and I don’t feel as though I should be. It should be based on your value to the club. It has nothing to do with if I’m a first-base coach or third-base coach. What is my value to the club?”  Davey Lopes to the Inquirer"

We are curious.

The Pittsburgh Pirates really suck at running the bases right?  Lopes

was rather good at turning the Phillies into machines at swiping bags.  Remember in 2007 when the Phillies stole 138 in 157 tries?  Hmmm….

How about 1977 when Lopes stole 77 bases and was caught just 12 times?   Finger Food had some great insight about the importance of Lopes to Philly including this quote:

"“It causes teams to make mistakes, not only with stealing, but with the aggressiveness in which you play. If you run the bases aggressively, you can capitalize on a mistake if it’s made by an infielder or outfielder. If you don’t, you can’t. It’s an after effect—‘Oh, I should have ran.’ Too late.”"

The Pirates have a young player in Neil Walker learning the second base position.  Lopes was rather good at the position.  Perhaps Lopes could help.

Lopes didn’t get it done with Milwaukee.  But that certainly shouldn’t keep him out of the discussion for a job with the Pirates.  The Philly Inquirer article mentions that if he had to sit out the season, he would hang up the spikes. 

Perhaps someone should pick up the phone on Federal Street, Davey Lopes would certainly be interesting to speak about a job opening.

Consider this:  If the job is Jeff Banisters’ right now, how much could he use a coach like Lopes?  We think Lopes would be a difference maker and Banisters’ staff certainly needs to stock pile talented coaches like Lopes that can impact wins on the field.

We trust the Bucs aren’t going to piss around acting like they are interested in another manager if they really aren’t.  Talented men are without jobs.  Being slow to action could cost the Pirates a solid hire for their staff.

Jeff Banister doesn’t have a track record for improving anything at the major league level, a guy without a job does.  Big time.

Oh well, it’s probably just wishful thinking on our part.  From our far away vantage point, it would seem the Pirates are incapable of landing such high level coaching talent.  Especially when considering the recent history with Perry Hill which was followed up by the renewal of John Russell and then he was allowed to fire Gary Varsho and Joe Kerrigan before he was shown the door.

It never hurts to dream though right?

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If you want to take a closer look at some stats on Davey Lopes check out this post from Crashburn Alley.