Jay Bell: Mac emulates Leyland

Ed Eagles reports that Jay Bell was hanging around the clubhouse the other day. He compared Mac to Leyland.

I don't see a lot of similarity between the managers. When I think about it, though, maybe Jay's right. I think Mac's a fine manager because he more or less manages the team the way I've come to expect a Pirate club to be managed. And those expectations were established, in part, by Leyland.

The reason it's not more obvious to me is that I mainly perceive Mac through the press, and Mac acts like a jackass with the reporters sometimes. When he singled out Joe Rutter and called him "unprofessional" for reporting comments that Kip Wells made on the record, he looks like a jackass. As a fan, I want Joe Rutter doing his job and telling us everything he can tell us. There's no way I'm siding with Mac there.

Mac also says too many things that sound a little thoughtless. For example, when he hinted that maybe he deserved some credit for the development of Craig Wilson. Another example: he perforates too many of his comments with profanity. I'm all for profanity and think it's generally a good thing, but the manager has to give the reporters things they can write down and publish. Like fresh fruit, swear words fucking rot on the shelf. What sounds good here and now looks like shit in a couple of days. And when reporters have to change every third word to (expletive) or (goshdarn), then I often I have no idea what Mac was trying to say. I'm sure I'd know if I was there when he said it but guess what, I wasn't there, so I rely on the reporters. They might as well report it like this, "When asked about the throwing errors that cost the team two unearned runs in the ninth inning, McClendon answered with profanity-laced platitudes." That's a little more subjective but probably more useful that printing, "Mac said, "Jack (expletive) the (expletive) and (expletive) turned the (expletive) to (expletive) to sugar."

Leyland was a bit more polished in his communications to the fans through the media. Mac could work on the important role he plays in the media coverage of events on the field. If he doesn't understand the value of free media coverage, someone should explain it to him. The beat reporters do much more to drive fans into the stadium than all the poorly-acted radio ads about grass stains on the uniform. Mac, a.k.a., "Mr. Light Purse, Heavy Heart," often bitches about not having enough money to field veterans of the caliber on some of the other teams. If he wants more money, he better help sell the tickets. He could put some more thought into the persona that fans perceive through the beat reporting.

All that said, I'm a big fan of Mac as an on-field manager and obviously that's a lot more important that his ability to talk smooth and be magnetic through the newspaper reporting. Like all the young players on the team, though, Mac could do some more work on some of the finer aspects of his game.