缅北禁地

Nov 27, 2016 By Alan Saunders for The 5 min read

When working properly, the Pittsburgh Pirates鈥� offense in 2016 was a well-oiled machine. Filled with hitters that could put the ball in play from top to bottom, the Pirates used a string-it-together approach that resulted in the sixth-most runs scored in the National League despite the fourth-fewest home runs.

Scoring runs the old-fashioned way isn鈥檛 always easy, and the Pirates went through several stretches where the offense struggled because of holes in the lineup created by injuries or other issues. It also depends on players to consistently to perform at the plate and on the basepaths.

Basepath performance is an area the Pirates thought they could improve upon after 2016 and the team released third-base coach Rick Sofield and reassigned first-base coach Nick Leyva. The Pirates made the third-most outs on the basepaths in the NL. Part of that was offset by an aggressive and often-successful base-stealing plan that saw Starling Marte rack up 47 steals and the offense as a whole grab 110 bags.

But of those players called out on the basepaths, 21 of them were made at home plate, the third-most in the league and a crippling blow to an offense that relied on steady run production. When the Chicago Cubs, who had two more batters thrown out at home, lost a base runner, they were able to compensate by hitting one of their 199 home runs. The Pirates, led in the power department by Andrew McCutchen鈥檚 24 round-trippers, didn鈥檛 have that option.

The man tasked with improving in that area is newly hired third base coach Joey Cora. Cora, 51, spent 2016 as the manager of the Pirates鈥� Double-A affiliate in Altoona, but before that, he had served as third-base coach and bench coach for the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins from 2004 to 2012.

Cora doesn鈥檛 see a magic formula for improvement at the position. Instead, it鈥檚 about taking the wishes of the organization and the manager and being able to communicate them to the players on the field. Some of that is done in spring training and before games, and some of that is done with the lights on and cameras rolling, but it all comes down to getting the manager鈥檚 message across.

鈥淭eams take the characteristics of their managers,鈥� Cora said in a telephone interview this week. 鈥淎s a coach, you鈥檙e just trying to make it easier on your manager. 鈥� My favorite manager was Lou Piniella, not only because he was as good baseball man, but because of the way he communicated with me. His style of communicating with players.鈥�

Even as a player, Cora appreciated the nuances of managerial staff and effective coaching, which he attributed to growing up having his father as a coach for his Little League games in Puerto Rico. In his first two major-league coaching stops, Cora worked under Ozzie Guillen, who became another major influence on Cora.

鈥淔or nine years, he was the one that brought me to the big-leagues as a coach and he trusted me to do a lot of stuff for him,鈥� Cora said. 鈥淥bviously, he had a lot of influence on my baseball acumen. He taught me a lot.鈥�

But Guillen was fired as the Marlins鈥� manager in 2012 after making controversial comments about the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Since then, Guillen hasn鈥檛 found another major-league job. A desire to learn a new way and an old connection brought Cora to the Pirates. When Cora was managing in the minor leagues right after his playing career ended, he had managed Larry Broadway. Broadway, now the Pirates鈥� director of minor-league operations, reached out to Cora about an opening.

鈥淗e brought it up to me that there was an opportunity,鈥� Cora said. 鈥淚 heard a lot of good things about their organization and the way they do things differently than other organizations. I wanted to learn what they do.鈥�

Cora had heard that the Pirates鈥� organization had a bent toward analytics 鈥� a part of the game he wanted to familiarize himself with more. But what he found went way beyond numbers and reaffirmed the lessons he learned as a player.

鈥淭hey do things very differently differently than other organizations,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey really care about the person. They really care about the mental part of the person, not just physically. A lot of people have it wrong, because they think they care about numbers and analytics and sabermetrics 鈥� and they do 鈥� but their emphasis is more the mental health of the whole organization than anything else.鈥�

That鈥檚 not to say that Cora is disillusioned about the way things go at the major-league level.

鈥淎t the end of the day in the big leagues, it鈥檚 about winning baseball games. The more you win, the smarter you are,鈥� Cora said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 one quote Clint [Hurdle] had the other day: 鈥榃inning is a big deodorant. You win, and you can hide a lot of things.鈥� Ultimately, that鈥檚 the main goal, win games, get to the World Series and win it.鈥�