Pittsburgh Pirates Skid Causes A.J. Burnett To Call Players Only Meeting

Ahhh, the dreadful ‘players only meeting’ was called this afternoon by Pittsburgh Pirates starter A.J. Burnett.  We looked at some of the teams that have called players only meetings this season.

The list isn’t really impressive:

The Boston Red Sox.  Yikes.

The Miami Marlins.  Yikes.

The Los Angeles Angels.  Heh, maybe there is something to this.

"“We needed to clear the air.” Burnett said"

Pirates manager Clint  Hurdle hinted in the pre-game that it might not have been the first time the players met behind closed doors.  Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t.

Wonder if it lookeed like this?

We can’t help but wonder what the topics were on Federal Street today.  The Andrew McCutchen beanball?  The Pirates actions at the trade deadline–which refers to the report that some Pirates holdovers weren’t thrilled with what management did at the deadline.

We doubt that was it.  But if it was, it would be a good time to leave that in the past.

Our gut tells us A.J. was leaning back in his chair at the front of the room telling the kids to relax.  We can see Burnett as an intense guy for certain, but this probably wasn’t the time to let it all out.

We remember Burnett telling a reporter after a recent victory that the atmosphere wasn’t anything like October.  It’s time for the Bucs to take a breather and calmly focus in on the task at hand.  The team has had a good run, but remember the motto at the beginning of the season?

Finish.