THE BULLPEN

I read reports yesterday that the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball club  are still training their Instructional League players as if they’re about to do battle in a war zone, instead of instructing them on the fine art of stealing second base. The situation with the Pirates gets more and more scary, scarier than any of the multitudes of zombie movies running on the Chiller channel. Apart from hitting coach Gregg Ritchie leaving to coach in the college ranks, nothing has been said or done regarding the team’s record collapse of the 2012 season. I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Is that right, Bottom Line Bob Nutting?  Is 20 consecutive losing seasons considered not worth fixing? I guess if something works, you stick with it. Sorry, but how has this particular type of instruction done anything to benefit the teams won/loss record? There’s even talk of injuries and agents advising players to steer clear of the Pirates organization. How is this helpful? My only presumption is that Nutting hires these Navy SEAL guys on the cheap. They must be way less expensive than hiring actual coaches to coach these players. Hoka hey, indeed.