The Pirates have hired Jeff Banister as a special assistant, baseball operations, the team announced. He joins fellow new hire David Eckstein in that regard.
The 54-year-old Banister is headed back to Pittsburgh, which selected him in the 25th round of the 1986 draft. Banister then spent seven seasons in the Pirates’ minor league system and picked up his sole majors plate appearance with the team in 1991. He eventually went on to manage for five seasons in the minors with Pittsburgh and also spent three seasons as its major league field coordinator and eight as a minor league field coordinator. Banister topped that off by serving as the Pirates’ interim pitching coach in 2008 and their bench coach in 2010.
After his long tenure in Pittsburgh, Banister became the Rangers’ manager in 2014. He held that position through last year, posting a 325-313 regular-season record with a pair of playoff berths and two American League West titles. Perhaps Banister will be in line to become the Pirates’ next manager if Clint Hurdle’s run ends, then, though there’s no indication the Bucs are down on the latter despite three straight non-playoff seasons.
Pirates finally make a move and it’s a meh one.
As a Pirates fan, this is the best move they’ve made in years. They finally have Hurdle’s replacement back. Nothing about the Pirates has been the same since Bannister left.
I think in this case correlation =/= causation. Bench coaches don’t generally have control over trades, payroll, etc. which have been much more causal.
When this is the best move they’ve made, you know they’re in trouble. And the manager in waiting tag is nice, but there’s no one who can consistently win with what ownership is providing in terms of personnel
Yeah, maybe they’ll surprise again and be slightly better than 500, but it is what it is
It is nice to have a better in house option than Tom Prince.
Nice move.
Will this guy ever manage again? Feel more Ranger fans complained than praised Banister, during his Ranger tenure.
That’s the same with every manager
Many (most?) NYY fans loved Girardi and thought not renewing his contract was unnecessary move.
Would think hindsight proved them right, year-1.
Because that is what teams make their decisions on…fan opinion
A lot of players seemed to regress under Banister. The team also didn’t do the best with executing the ‘small’ things. He had a lot of negative feedback on his communication style. Lastly more players than not, saw a decent uptick in production when they moved to a different team.
With that being said, I loved his grit and attitude. He was needed after the Ron Washington cocaine debacle. The Rangers benefited from his straightforward approach his first year. Especially the never give up attitude. Over time, it would have been valuable for him to change his style to better fit what the team needed. Ultimately he lost the team. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him coach again in the future. Would be good for a team like Baltimore.
Needed after the Ron Washington cocaine debacle? Bannister was hired five years after Washington failed a drug test. Meanwhile, Washington led the team to two consecutive WS after that debacle.
He’s not talking about that. He’s referencing Wash resigning towards the end of the 2014 season due to some complications with his marriage.
Between he and Eckstein, I guess that they feel that you can’t have too many Special Assistants.
Because two is an overload?
The Pirates list seven “Special Assistants to the General Manager” and now six “Special Assistant for Baseball Operations”,
Career 1.000 hitter!
Seems like a pretty good hire. Always known as a “thinking” guy, Bannister’s slew of FO (especially in player development) and field experience makes him pretty qualified.
Also gotta like the Eckstein hire. I have no idea what kind of FO guy he’ll be, but man it was fun watching when he played….full tilt, all the time…..and he had fun……he’ll liven up things there at least…..
Hot front office stove is owned the bucs this offseason. see if it translates to finishing ahead of the rest of the central…
So he was not a pticher by trade, but was promoted to be interim pitching coach? That’s pretty tough! Always liked him too. Hopefully when/if Hurdle is let go Bannister gets looked at for the job.
Maybe he’ll be the guy to whisper the name, “Sonny Gray” into NH’s ear. Pirates sure could use him to make a really good staff into a potentially awesome staff!
I think blaming hurdle for the woes the Pirates are in, is silly talk. The guy can manage the Pirates for awhile and should. The Front office is the problem and Pirates will continue to float around .500 until they can spend 110-120 million a season. Projected payroll this season I believe is 78 million (give or take). It is a shame the Pirates will never be playoff contenders under current front office.
Agreed, and it’s in line with what someone said, above. Too much blame when they lose and too much credit when they win
That said, my only complaint is his having fallen in love with the Golden State Warriors model of resting players for a game. Too many times, he has a minor league line up that either kills any momentum the team had going or continues a losing streak
You’re right. How can they contend when they are always claiming they’re cash-strapped, so much so that they’re giving away starting pitchers or infielders whose contracts would be looked at as affordable at mid-market locales
It’s tiring. It’s Pittsburgh.
That’s the Spurs who started the hat trend.
Thanks. Thought it was Kerr