Kirschman: Despite tough task, Hurdle the right man for Pirates

The Pirates hired a new manager this week, giving Clint Hurdle the opportunity to turn around a… The Pirates hired a new manager this week, giving Clint Hurdle the opportunity to turn around a franchise that just finished its 18th-straight losing season. Lucky guy.

Honestly, he can’t do much worse than those who came before him.

The Pirates haven’t had a winning season since 1992, when they went 96-66 under Jim Leyland. Since then, five different managers have taken the reigns, and five different managers have failed.

The latest was John Russell, who finished his three years with an overall record of 186-299. He was a nice enough guy, sure, but listen to Pittsburgh fans call into radio shows and you’d hear exactly what Pirates fans didn’t like about him — besides the whole losing thing, of course.

Russell didn’t seem passionate enough.

He hardly ever argued with umpires. He conducted news conferences and interviews in monotone; nobody could really tell whether he was happy or angry. Not that he really had that much to be happy about, but still. Pittsburgh fans like their coaches a little feisty, or they at least like to know that the coaches care as much as the fans do.

You would be hard-pressed to find fans anywhere in the country more passionate than Pittsburgh fans. They love their Steelers, their Penguins, their Panthers and yes, even their Pirates. Pirates fans need the manager to show that he wants to resurrect the Pirates tradition as much as they do.

Hurdle might be that manager.

He has no problem arguing with umpires as he was ejected 14 times over his six years as the manager of the Colorado Rockies, placing him in the top 10 in the majors. At the very least, even if the team on the field isn’t entertaining, the manager might be.

I mean, former Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon didn’t win either, but he once ripped out first base and walked off the field with it after being ejected from a game. The Pirates ended up winning that game, too. Now that’s entertainment.

But on a serious note, none of the game’s best managers are going to take a job with the league’s worst franchise. That’s just how it is. The Pirates finished the season 57-105. How many people are going to get excited about taking over that?

Answer: not many. But Hurdle seems excited. He claims he’s ready for the challenge and that he’s all in. At his news conference, he was lively and engaging. Plus he does have some experience leading a winning team.

Hurdle was the manager for the Colorado Rockies from 2002-09 and finished his tenure with a record of 534-625, including a World Series appearance in 2007.

Now, 2007 was the only winning season that he compiled during his time with the Rockies, but at least it was a winning season. And none of the losing seasons were as bad as 57-105.

He was fired after the team got off to an 18-28 start in 2008. Former Pirates manager Jim Tracy took over from there. I know, small world.

This past season, Hurdle served as the hitting coach for the Texas Rangers. The Rangers led Major League Baseball with a team batting average of .276; the Pirates were 29th with an average of .242. Perhaps more importantly, Hurdle is known for his work developing young players, and that’s one thing the Pirates don’t lack.

In fact, one of the only reasons for optimism around the Pirates stems from their young core of Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Jose Tabata and Pedro Alvarez.

If the Pirates are going to be somewhat successful this season or in the near future, Hurdle is going to have to help those players grow. Assembling a pitching staff that isn’t downright embarrassing would be a good start as well.

I, for one, am on board with the hire. I like it. Hurdle was the best the Pirates could do, and he at least deserves a chance. The other choice was Jeff Banister, Russell’s bench coach who has been with the Pirates for 25 years.

Now, I’m sure Banister is a very nice guy, but I’d rather have somebody new, somebody from outside the Pirates organization — somebody who might be willing to stand up and make a change in Pittsburgh.

Hurdle went into his interview and asked General Manager Neal Huntington and President Frank Coonelly the tough questions about their three-year plan, their goals, their flexibility. He challenged them from the very beginning. That’s what I like to see.