The Pittsburgh Pirates Need To Move On From Clint Hurdle

It’s time for a new voice of leadership inside the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse

This past Saturday, Clint Hurdle became the fourth winningest manager in Pittsburgh Pirates history, surpassing Chuck Tanner. While the timing for this could have been better, as it was the same night the team honored Tanner’s 1979 World Series champions, it should have been a happy occasion.

Hurdle is a genuinely good man. He cares about people. He’s loyal to his players. He’s been through hell and back in baseball, going from Sports Illustrated cover boy to disappointment as a player and from National League Champion to unemployment as a manager. His personal life hasn’t been any easier. Two divorces and a 15-round bout with Jim Beam could easily have ruined his managing career. Hurdle overcame all of that, however, and helped make the Pirates matter again in this city.

The bubblegum chewing, jovial, smiling manager should always be remembered fondly for what he’s meant to Pittsburgh, and anybody who doesn’t think so is off base, or a jerk.

While there was a lot to be celebrated with Hurdle’s most recent milestone, it has a somber element as well. The fact that only three men in the 130+ year history of Pirates baseball have won more games than Hurdle means that he’s been here a long time, and because his teams have been in purgatory since Jake Arietta worked his magic on a chilly October night almost four years ago, it’s hard to dispute that he’s overstayed his welcome.

Barring a calamity, Hurdle will finish out his ninth season in Pittsburgh on Sept. 29. With the impending retirement of Bruce Bochy, Hurdle will be the longest tenured one-club manager in the National League should he be brought back in 2020, and Ned Yost— who was hired in Kansas City just six months before Hurdle took the Pirates job— will be the only manager in baseball who has stayed with the same franchise for longer. The number of years Hurdle has spent on PNC Park’s third base dugout railing would indicate that he’s done wonders for the Pirates and is one of baseball’s best managers.

While the first part is true, the second part certainly is not.

If I were to name every in-game blunder Hurdle’s made over the past 3.5 seasons specifically, the list would be only slightly longer than a New York City phonebook. So I’ll pick two of them from this past week.

•  In Wednesday afternoon’s rubber-game with St. Louis, Hurdle put in Michael Feliz with the Bucs clinging to a late one-run lead. Feliz faced Paul Goldschmidt, and the lead vanished into the Mississippi River. Hurdle could have used Richard Rodriguez, who has allowed one run since May 30. Instead, he went with an inferior option, and he lost.
• This past Monday, the Pirates had St. Louis reliever Carlos Martinez on the ropes. After coming into the bottom of the 10th down 6-2, the Bucs cut the deficit to one, and had first and second with nobody out. Elias Diaz came to the plate, and Hurdle decided to have him move the runners over. You see, Diaz doesn’t know how to bunt, and his attempt to do so got Corey Dickerson thrown out at third, thus making the idea completely pointless.

Every manager makes dumb decisions from time to time, but it’s become almost an expectation with Hurdle, and it might be wise for the Pirates to find somebody a better at calling the shots.

Unless the Pirates get hot over the next two months Hurdle will end 2019 with more losing seasons (five) than winning seasons (four). His overall winning percentage in Pittsburgh is ok (.511). if you take out 2013-15, however, that percentage is a less impressive .475. Should the Pirates ride Hurdle into the next decade, it would likely be because of what he did over those three years. As great as that time period was, those days are over, and they shouldn’t spare Hurdle any longer.

I’m a senior in college. The Pirates haven’t been good since I was a senior in high school. This obviously isn’t all Hurdle’s fault, but his piss poor game management and stubbornness regarding which players to start in sit (see Rodriguez, Sean) have hurt more than they’ve helped.

As much as I want Hurdle gone, it will be a sad day when he leaves the Pittsburgh Pirates. Especially considering it would probably mean the end of Hurdle’s career in the majors, at least as a manager. It would be sadder, however, should this organization continue to let him overstay his welcome, and let him oversee more losing, making the three “Buctobers” we shared together more distant.

The Pirates can use common sense and change skippers in the offseason, or, they can keep Hurdle, and hope that 2020 will somehow be different than 2016, ’17, ’18 or ’19. I’m betting on the latter.