Bucs fire Russell after skid reaches 18 years

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

He didn’t make the trades or strip the major league roster of so many proven players. In the end, John Russell’s resume will always include 299 losses in three seasons, and that was way too many, even for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Russell was fired Monday after matching the Pirates’ record for most losses by a manager in three seasons. The only other manager in the franchise’s 124-season history with so many losses in so few seasons was Fred Haney, who was 163-299 from 1953-55.

Russell (186-299) had records of 67-95 in 2008, 62-99 in 2009 and 57-105 this season. Only the 1952 Pirates, who went 42-112, lost more games in baseball’s modern era than Russell’s final team, which was the NL’s worst in batting, pitching and defense.

These Pirates were bad from April to October, putting together a 12-game losing streak, four seven-game losing streaks and eight five-game losing streaks. They were 17-64 on the road, equaling the 1963 Mets for the most road losses during baseball’s expansion era.

No pitcher won more than nine games on a team that was outscored by 279 runs, or almost 100 runs more than any other major league team. Five pitchers lost 10 or more games, led by 15-game losers Zach Duke and Paul Maholm, and no starting pitcher had a winning record during the franchise’s record-extending 18th consecutive losing season.

While Russell was fired, general manager Neal Huntington was retained despite making a succession of poor trades and questionable moves that have left the Pirates with one of the majors’ least-talented teams — a pattern that began long before either arrived in Pittsburgh.

“We asked John Russell and his staff to compete against some incredible odds,” Huntington said. “We’ve turned the club over in three years. I’m not shy about taking responsibility for the record. It’s not the manager’s record.

“The won-lost record at the major league level goes beyond just the manager.”