How Clueless is Pirates Assistant GM Kyle Stark?

That brings me to tonight. Kovacevic wrote a blog entry entitled “Wakeup Call: Do NOT let players off hook.” Here, he writes a few short points on why the Pirates players are also to blame for the team’s epic collapse. But that isn’t what intrigued me, it was one of the comments left by a reader below the story. This is what it said:

BarryVanBonilla
September 20th, 2012 – 12:08 am

By all means, let’s not let the players off the hook. But going back to your recent work, let’s not forget who assembled this team, who teaches it, especially those who have been around long to be attributable to the present regime (by no means excusing the Littlefield and Bonifay reigns of error).There is a cultural problem here, that I have discerned spending time around some of the individuals in question. I want to share some of what I’ve seen and been told, though I wish some of those directly involved would go on the record (since some have nothing fo lose).Your piece of a few days back captured issues I have seen firsthand, and heard from former players.  What I heard was reflective of systemic problems with priorities (team-building with consultants, core strength training, lectures, etc.) that took time away from on-field drills. As for the drills, there were complaints about them being formulaic, with inconsistent quality of training and a lack of effort expended toward making sure players kept doing something until they did it right.The more ephemeral criticisms centered around “too many (development) guys tapping on f******* computers and iPhones and not enough time doing hands-on training.” Also, too much “hairy fairy consultant ****,” presumably at the expense of hands-on training. I heard variations on these same criticisms from multiple individuals, and what I saw of Kyle Stark and his people at Pirate City was pretty uninspiring, inasmuch as they didn’t interact with players as much as with each other and their devices. There was a hell of a lot of standing around by players listening to lectures I couldn’t hear. The other criticism feeds off of the SEALS stuff. The military mindset is very much apparent if you spend time around them, and more so in the telling of people who have spent more time than I have. It has been described as offputting by people, and a lot of players appear not be responding well to it, according to its critics.

The other universal criticism of Stark is that he is not nearly knowledgeable enough about the actual game (as opposed to the theoretical game) to do his job effectively. Two former players told me that they approached Frank Coonelly about jobs with the organization. Both were sent to Stark. One former player told me Stark was an “obnoxious, disrespectful little ****.” My bias having met him is that this captures it quite well and applies to some of his staff as well (one of his direct reports laughed condescendingly at the idea that Kris Medlen would amount to anything, because he is too small, something I find amusing as I write this an hour or so after he tied Whitey Ford’s record of 21 consecutive starts resulting in a win for the Braves).

The other player was more specific (and riotously funny). He met Stark, who asked the guy what his experience was in baseball. He rattled off his years playing and coaching at several levels. Stark looked at (and tapped) on his laptop, asking: “Who did you play for? I haven’t heard of you.” The gentleman pointed to the wall behind them and said, “That’s me right there.” It was a large reproduction of one of the three world series celebrations since 1960 (left vague to protect the irate). Stark appeared not to “give a **** ” as it was described to me. Neither player believes Coonelly bothered to tell Stark who he was interviewing, which is borne out by the descriptions of the incidents.

There is a whiff of hypocrisy here. They talk about legacy, they bring these guys to spring training, put them in the dugout, but when they ask for a job they’re shuffled off to Stark. Now, it may well be that the individuals are not good potential coaches. To me, however, the going on and on about legacy and history, juxtaposed with the way they treat people who were important to the franchise, is telling. Several people told me that Clint Hurdle has had more to do with stressing the legacy than the others.

In sum, Neal Huntington’s team may be getting better, they may suck, but nobody I know (myself included) thinks they have any ability to relate to human beings very well. In my view, absent that ability (or a willingness to subcontract that part of your job to others who do have it), you’ve already failed. No matter how good your “metrics” are, you’ll ultimately wear out your welcome. My own impressions, outside of a select few people, is that this is a soulless, corporate operation that just happens to be in the business of baseball. That starts at the top, and that is why I don’t hold out a lot of hope.

I thought it was just a rant from some unusually intelligent Pirates fan at first, but throughout it, he/she kept declaring themselves close to the organization in one way or another. He/she said they had spent considerable time around the Pirates management and players in question and drew some conclusions from what he/she was told by certain people. Not only that, but below the comment, Kovacevic commented further about the commentator by adding:

“DK: All I’ll add is that I can vouch for this individual’s veracity as someone close enough to make the above comments. Oh, and I’ll add that Huntington promoted Stark and Greg Smith last winter to the titles of assistant GM.”

So, we should be able to conclude that Kovacevic basically backed up the commentator’s validity. These were words written by someone who knew what they were talking about.

(STAY WITH ME, I’M GETTING TO THE POINT SHORTLY)

In the comment, the person really attacked Stark and gave some examples. Primarily, I want you to consider what he/she said about two former players who approached Pirates president Frank Coonelly. Coonelly sent them both to Stark. One said that Stark was obnoxious and disrespectful (TO A FORMER PIRATES PLAYER WHOM THE TEAM PRESIDENT RESPECTED ENOUGH TO REFER). What’s worse, the Stark didn’t even know who the second former Pirate was. That’s when the former player pointed to a a picture of himself in a World Series celebration.

The commentator notes at this point that it was a picture of one of the World Series celebrations since 1960 (this is how he protects the player’s identity). So that player could have been on the Pirates team during the 1960,’71 or ’79 World Series win.

Now in the next graf of the comment, the author writes the following:

There is a whiff of hypocrisy here. They talk about legacy, they bring these guys to spring training, put them in the dugout, but when they ask for a job they’re shuffled off to Stark. Now, it may well be that the individuals are not good potential coaches. To me, however, the going on and on about legacy and history, juxtaposed with the way they treat people who were important to the franchise, is telling. Several people told me that Clint Hurdle has had more to do with stressing the legacy than the others.

This is where the commentator may have given away the identities of the two former players who approached Stark. “…put them in the dugout, but when they ask for a job, they’re shuffled off to Stark.” Earlier this season, I can remember only one instance when former players were brought back and put in the dugout for a game. Those two players were Bill Mazeroski and Bill Virdon. If you don’t remember, here’s the article documenting it. Also, in the commentator’s final sentence of that graf he points out that “several people told me that Clint Hurdle has more to do with stressing the legacy than the others.” I can back this up by a quote from Hurdle reported by MLB.com after Major League Baseball told Virdon and Mazeroski they weren’t allowed to be in the dugout because they exceeded the manager limit.

“I was told that’d be the end of it. It did not surprise me,” Hurdle admitted prior to Wednesday night’s second game of the interleague series with Minnesota at PNC Park. “It wasn’t really within the rules and regulations of the game, which I might have overlooked in my excitement to get them involved.”

It seems completely possible that the two players the commentator noted in his rant were Bill Virdon and Bill Mazeroski.

Both Virdon and Maz fit the criteria of being on one of the three World Series championship teams from 1960-1979. And I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt to Stark when I assume that he knows who Bill Mazeroski is. Pretty much anyone who knows a lick about baseball recognizes the name “Mazeroski.” So that leaves me to believe that Kyle Stark didn’t know who Bill Virdon was.

I know that Bill Virdon wasn’t the most high-profile player in Pirates history. But he did play for the team for 11 years (1956–1965, 1968) and was the manager of the Pirates from 1972-1973. He is a notable player in the team’s history and it’d be a damn shame of Stark didn’t know who he was. If in fact it was Virdon who approached Stark, which then prompted Stark to Google his name, it would only speak more to the fact that Stark is completely clueless and has no business being in the position he’s in

And don’t forget that Kyle Stark was obnoxious and disrespectful to them and was completely clueless as to who one of them was. Can you imagine how terrible it would feel to be one of those old time Pirates greats and have an assistant GM treat you like that? Hell, even if it wasn’t either of those players who were the ones mentioned in the blog comments. If you were a Pirates player who had won a championship with the team during the glory days, when the foundation of the fan base was established for generations to come, and you were treated like that by a current Pirates employee, wouldn’t you just feel the urge to smack him upside the head and give him a lesson about how meaningless he was to the organization now?

I know it’s a very roundabout way to say that the Pirates organization clearly makes bad personnel decisions from top to bottom, but it’s an entertaining way to look at it.Again, I’m not declaring it as fact that Maz and Virdon were the two unnamed players in the comments of Kovacevic’s blog. I could be putting together coincidental puzzle pieces that aren’t actually there. But consider what I’ve provided you and draw your own conclusions and don’t forget that regardless of who the two players were, Kyle Stark treated them like garbage. Either of the unnamed players would have been prime targets for autograph seekers because regardless of their names, they were Pirates. And now, the Pirates are a joke of an organization and the fans deserve better than the last 19 (and soon to be 20) years of losing.

And if I am grasping at straws, then I have at least provided you with Kovacevic’s insight that is clearly undeniable. Either way, I’ve made my point.