Commentary
Pitcher Jimmy Anderson is better off getting out of Pittsburgh PITTSBURGH – Jimmy Anderson is gone from the Pirates and you’re welcome to make up your own joke.
The following have already been taken:
-It clears one spot on the roster and two seats on the team bus.
-In a related development, the McDonald’s and Burger King a few blocks from the ballpark have closed.
-The Pirates have one big pair of pants to fill.
OK, it’s all cheap and mean-spirited but Christmas isn’t until next week.
Fact is Anderson will land somewhere else and he’s better off getting out of Pittsburgh.
That much was made clear last season when he was dropped from the starting rotation in mid-August. He made only three relief appearances the rest of the season and spent most of his time doing remedial fundamentals work with pitching coach Spin Williams hours before the games started.
Anderson somehow managed to survive seven years in professional baseball without learning how to properly hold runners on base. That speaks to his work habits but also says something negative about the level of instruction in the Pirates farm system.
Anderson had a couple of standout minor league seasons (8-3 at Class AA Carolina in 1996 and 11-2 at Class AAA Nashville two years later) and was actually a well-regarded prospect when he came to the major leagues in 2000. The Pirates kept him over veteran Pete Schourek that spring, even though they still had to pay Schourek.
Anderson had some ups and downs in his rookie season. There were some exceptional games and too many where he was sitting in the dugout before the first inning was over, wondering what went wrong.
Three years later, the pattern really hadn’t changed much.
Anderson was still capable of very good games – he pitched especially well against Cincinnati for some reason – but he was just as likely to get pounded.
He couldn’t seem to get better and didn’t seem to put enough effort into trying. Teammates criticized his work habits but their words never seemed to spur Anderson to change anything. He settled into thinking everyone was picking on him. When he was demoted last summer, he grumbled, “Every time something goes wrong around here, they blame me.”
Anderson isn’t a bad guy and he’s probably not as bad a pitcher as his 24-42 record indicates.
Although there was no trade market for him, someone will take him to camp next spring. After all, he’s left-handed and lefties always get a second chance.
Somewhere, some scout saw one of the good games and will recommend that his team take a low-risk look at Anderson.
Maybe someday it will all fall into place and Anderson will become the pitcher the Pirates thought he could be.
Maybe his release is the kick in the pants he needs to get his career in gear. He’s no longer the Pirates’ problem, continuing a trend that has been prevalent since Dave Littlefield took over as general manager about 18 months ago.
The Pirates make decisive evaluations of players. Either they’re in the plans or they’re gone. It’s happened with Chad Hermansen, Adrian Brown, Armando Rios and now Anderson.
There’s an old phrase favored by baseball people – addition by subtraction.
The players mentioned above didn’t cause trouble but they didn’t develop into quality major leaguers, either.
In that case, it’s best to move on and try someone else.
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Maybe the most discouraging aspect of the Penguins’ recent nosedive is the fact that Mario Lemieux has been healthy throughout the slide.
Even Lemieux hasn’t been able to save them and that’s a cause for concern.
You don’t even want to think about what might happen if he had to miss any time.
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The Steelers’ defense was so strong Sunday against Carolina that you could see the competitiveness leaving quarterback Rodney Peete.
Peete’s body language sent that “What am I doing here?” message that a lot of quarterbacks used to feel on late-season trips to Pittsburgh.
John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehno@lycos.com