Results tagged ‘ mitch williams ’
MLB Network previews 30 clubs in 30 days
MLB Network was in Bradenton, Fla., On Monday filming 30 clubs in 30 days, which will air Tuesday at 11 PM ET. On MLB Tonight, they discussed the Pirates and previewed the show which filmed at McKechnie Field.
Lisa Kearney chatted with All-Star Evan Meek, who they referred to as, “one of the men that will be counted on to help finish off games.”
Lisa Kearney: “You’re coming off an all-star season, relief pitchers keep themselves ready in different ways. How do you keep yourself ready to go?”
Evan Meek: “Last year I was just keeping the same routine. Just trying to do the same thing everyday. Relief pitching, you don’t know when your really going to go out there. It’s not like a starter, where, you know you’re going to be out there every fifth day. So, for me, it’s just doing the same thing everyday. Making sure I get my lifting in when I can. It’s all based kind of on what you did the night before. If you have a quick inning, you can work out, you can get something done. But if you go out there and throw 30, 40 pitches in an inning, you’re probably going to want to take that day off, that night off to recover for the next day.”
Kearney: “How would you describe your personality on the mound?”
Meek: “You know, I’m kind of a jokester off the field. I like to have fun. Once I get on the mound I’m really serious. It’s kind of a ‘get in and get out’…I want to have a quick inning.”
Kearney: “Do you envision yourself as a full time closer at a certain point in your career?”
Meek: “Yeah. Absolutely. I think any relief pitcher in the bullpen, would like to close games. I don’t know if anyone would just be content with being a sixth, seventh inning guy. But you know what? Some guys are better suited for that role. Last year I was sixth-seventh, seventh-eighth — I did a lot of things last year. I think ultimately I would like to be a stopper at some point in my career. I think that’s something to strive for and that would be a great challenge.”
The analysts discussed the impact Manager Clint Hurdle can bring to the club:
Harold Reynolds: “A lot. The No. 1 thing is a positive direction to head these guys in. He’s been there before. Clint Hurdle Managed eight years in Colorado with the Rockies. The Rockies were a brand new franchise, he was a minor league hitting coach, ascended to the managing ranks. So he’s been through a rebuild before. The biggest thing going through a re-building team or a struggle is you have to have that front runner, lead guy, being positive. A lot of negative things are going to happen. I think Clint Hurdle’s positive impact will have a major influence on this organization.”
Jacque Jones (Guest Analyst): “He’s got a lot of energy too, Harold. He’s got some good, young players to work with. He’s got Jose Tabata. He’s got Neil Walker. He’s got Andrew McCutchen. You know, guys like that, they can turn the franchise around. With some good starting pitching. They’ve got some great arms in the bullpen. They can turn this program around.”
Matt Yallof commented on McCutchen’s energy, saying, “You watch him play –you want to go out from your television and you want to start playing. He’s so energetic.”
Jones: “He’s all over the place. He’s a great five tool player. He can hit, he can hit for power. He’s fast –he’s really fast. He get’s that team going.”
Mitch Williams: “I’ve said this many times on our air, I would pay money to go watch McCutchen play the game. There are very few people that I’ve seen in my career that are that fun to watch. He’s one of them…Clint is going to be patient to a point, but I think he is going to demand these guys demand the most out of themselves. Being content with losing is not going to fly. They have to get past that ‘we’re expected to lose faze’. Once this organization gets past that, ‘losing is accepted here in Pittsburgh’, they will be on the way and headed in the right direction.”
Reynolds: “If I’m a college kid or high school kid sitting out there and I’m draft eligible, I’m saying ‘draft me in Pittsburgh’. I’m serious. You’re going to get to the big leagues quick. They’ve spent more money than anybody in the minor league systems the last three years, trying to rebuild this system.”
*Photo credit: (Meek) Tribune-Review, (Hurdle) Yahoo! Sports
MLB Network rips apart Pirates 2011 season
Incase you missed Hot Stove from Wednesday night, or perhaps you don’t get the channel, here is what the analysts from MLB Network had to say about the Pirates 2011 season (P.S. It’s not pretty).
Matt Yallof: “The Pirates. Every single year. It seems to get worse. 57 wins last year. That seems difficult to do.”
Bill Ripken: “You wonder what direction they’re heading in. Our friend Clint Hurdle is taking over this club. I think he’s going to bring an attitude and a positive mentality to this club. But for me, I look at the pitching staff. In all these years that they’ve finished down to the bottom of baseball, I’m wanting to know where that number one is. We mentioned [Steven] Strasburg when we talk about the Nationals. Now, he blew out his elbow and he got hurt. But when you draft, you draft a number one. You draft some cheddar. When I look at the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation, I’m kind of wondering, ‘where’s the heat’? I’m not saying heats everything because you can pitch to spots and you can locate. When everybody on your staff is throwing 91, 92, then you drop down below 90, throwing 86, 88. There’s not that one guy that actually wows me. [Charlie] Morton throws the hardest. When you’re looking at 93 topping out, I’m wanting to know, ‘where the heat is?’ If you didn’t draft it, and you go out and you pick out other guys that are kind of throwing the same, ‘where’s the heat?’ I want somebody in that rotation that’s going to make somebody swing and miss at a fastball and maybe get yourself out of a jam instead of giving up big innings.”
Pirates projected rotation (according to MLB Network)
James McDonald (4-6, 4.02 ERA in 2010)
Paul Maholm (9-15, 5.10 ERA in 2010)
Kevin Correia (10-10 5.40 ERA in 2010)
Scott Olsen (4-8, 5.56 ERA in 2010)
Ross Ohlendorf (1-11, 4.07 ERA in 2010)
Mitch Williams: “There has to be a guy on every staff that at some point in the game, can reach back and throw the ball 95, 96. If you’ve got two outs and the bases loaded, two strikes on a hitter, you have got to have that guy that can blow that hitter up. Pittsburgh does not have that guy. They have guys that throw hitting speed.”
Matt Yallof: “You know what, they’ve had their chances to draft guys of note and guys that do what you’re taking about but they’ve missed. They’ve had high draft picks over and over. That hurts. Look at the guys they’ve passed on. They’ve missed those type of guys.”
Pitchers drafted in first round by Pirates since 2002:
2006:
Drafted – Right hand pitcher Brad Lincoln
Missed on – Left hand pitcher Clayton Kershaw, right hand pitcher Tim Lincecum, Right hand pitcher Matt Scherzer
2003:
Drafted – Left hand pitcher Paul Maholm
Missed on – Left hand pitcher John Danks, Right hand pitcher Chad Billingsley
2002:
Drafted – right hand pitcher Brian Bullington
Missed on – Right hand pitcher Zach Greinke, left hand pitcher Cole Hamels
(*As a note: Kevin McClatchy and Dave Littlefield were the General Managers during this time. Since Neal Huntington took over as GM in September of 2007, the drafting and minor league system has done a complete 180. Huntington really hasn’t gotten enough credit for what he has done so far and how much better the organization is heading.)
Harold Reynolds: “That’s the easy stuff they’ve missed on. Those are the number one picks. It’s the guys in the fifth round, six round, that your scouting is suggesting and going after. They’ve done a nice job with some players that have come up as of late (Williams: “position players”). But they’ve really missed it on the pitching.”
Ripken: “That term that comes into baseball now: Sign ability. Some of that might be their hands are tied a little bit but boy when you see that list and some of those players they’ve passed up on, wow! They’d look a lot different.”
Reynolds: “If you look back at the ‘we are family pirates’ they were international. They were: Puerto Rico, Dominican, they may not have had the funds back then but they went in those countries and developed players. I still think they had the market cornered. That’s when everybody wanted to be a pirate.”
Williams: “They won the World Series with the ugliest hats in the history of baseball.”
Yallof: “Last winning season: 1992. It’s really hard to believe.”
Notable Transactions (by MLB Network)
Additions:
First baseman – Lyle Overbay
Outfielder – Matt Diaz
Right hand pitcher – Kevin Correia
Left hand pitcher – Scott Olsen
Subtractions:
Left hand pitcher – Zach Duke
Right hand pitcher – Chan Ho Park
Outfielder – Lastings Milledge
Will the Pirates endure another 100 loss season?
On Monday’s edition of Hot Stove on MLB Network, the analysis’s played the game “Over/Under”. If you are a frequent watcher of the network, you are aware of the game the guys play.
Greg Amsinger’s question involved the Bucs: Will the Pirates lose 100 games in 2011? Over or Under?
Ron Gant, who was a guest analyst on the show Monday, said: “Under. I played for Clint Hurdle. He was our hitting instructor while I was in Colorado. He is going to relate to the young players, they have a young athletic ball club. I think they are going to go out there and compete game in and game out.”
Harold Reynolds: “I’m saying under. I’m feeling Clint. Go get em’ Clint Hurdle! I think Pittsburgh is going in the right direction. He’s there at the right time, I think they are going to be under.”
Mitch Williams: “Clint, I love ya. The only thing I hope you lose is that salmon colored suit. I think they are going to lose over. It does not have to do with their young position player talent. It has to do with their lack of pitching in their starting rotation and in their bullpen. I still think they are a couple of years away from not losing 100.”
It should be added, The Pirates have lost more than 100 games only twice in their last 55 seasons.
Kristy Robinson
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