Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Who Is Mike Pagliarulo And Did New Advisor Bill Livesey Pull The Trigger

UPDATE:  It’s official.  Pagliarulo has been hired.  A rumor is circulating that the Indianapolis Indians have hired Mike Pagliarulo as the hitting coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affliliate.  If true, it could be one of the most interesting hires the Pirates have made recently.    The hitting coach for the Tribe last season was Jeff Branson.  But that position became open if you recall when Branson was announced by Clint Hurdle as the (MLB new trendy thing to have) assistant hitting coach during PiratesFest.

Branson’s resume includes the following from the Indians website:

"Under Branson’s guidance, Matt Hague led the International League in hits with 165 in 2011 … In 2010, Indians outfielder Brandon Moss became the first Indians’ batter since 1978 to lead his league in RBI with 96 … Indians hitters in 2010 led the Pirates system in home runs with 118 as well as walks at 544 … In 2009 the Indians hit a franchise-record 119 home runs"

We had heard of Pagliarulo, but didn’t realize he would be so interesting, we mean really damn interesting….  here is what we dug up.

Pagliarulo played third base in the 80’s and 90’s.  He was a sixth round pick in the 1981 draft.    Pags made it to the bigs in 1984 and spent five years with the Yankees, hitting some serious bombs in fact leading the team with 32 in 1987.  The third baseman spent some time with the Padres and won a World Series championship with the Twins in 1991.

When the strike shortened the 1994 season, Pagliarulo played for the Seibu Lions in the Japan.  He signed with the Rangers and retired after the 1995 season with 134 big league bombs.

After baseball, Pagliarulo opened BaseLine Group which included BaseLine Report where he wrote interesting blog posts like this one which was an open letter  to the Devil Rays.

So just how did Mike Pagliarulo come into the picture?  That’s where it gets interesting.

One of ‘Pags’ associates at Baseline Group was Bill Livesey–yeh, you might recall that name.   Livesey was hired as a Senior Advisor to the General Manager for Bob Nuttings’ Buccos.   Livesey was called an old (emphasis was mine)  school super scout.

So if rumors of this hire are true, is it simply a payback for Livesey?  Or is Pags truly qualified to be a hitting instructor?

Or can Pagliarulo provide some expertise in player evaluation as he discussed in this incredibly interesting BP interview:

"All I know is that the weakest aspect of major league baseball is player evaluation.  That is clear by the millions of lost dollars within the industry each year"

After reading the interviews, Pagliarulo definently has strong opinions.  In fact, there is a ton of information in numerous articles about the former Yankee slugger.  We will link some in the Hub section of the blog, but it seems as if the Bucs got a very knowledgable coach with strengths that are suited for the organization.

Here was our post when Livesey was hired recently:

Bill Livesey was hired as Senior Advisor to GM today by the Pittsburgh Pirate. Image from The Shea Hot Corner

The Pittsburgh Pirates are making moves. Guess whose quote this is?

"”I learned there that in this day and age, you have to have a core group of your own players,” said Livesey, who was hired by the Mets after Bill Singer was fired for making racially insensitive comments to a Los Angeles Dodgers executive. ”We don’t just want to build a championship team, because that can go away. We want to build a championship organization. That’s the job here.”"

No, it’s not anyone from the Buccos management team. It’s from the newest Bucco team member. And it makes a lot of sense, especially when you hear the guys background.

The team announced that Bill Livesey has been hired as a Senior Advisor to the General Manager. It’s a position that you might recall once was manned by none other than Chuck Tanner.

Do these men help or hurt?  Click here if you want to read the rest on Livesey