Lanny talks

Pirate news has been pretty slow the past couple weeks, but Lanny Frattare found some time to sit down and talk to Bob Smizik about his decision to retire:

"I hope this doesn't sound trite, but I'm deeply indebted to the fans for giving me a chance. When I first joined the team after the firing of Bob, it was difficult. But the fans gave me a chance and that means the most to me.

"I hope I haven't let them down. I hope through these 33 years I gave them what they wanted even though my style was so different from Bob's."

This is pure speculation on my part, but a lot of the story really reads like all of the losing the Pirates have been doing recently just wore Lanny out. He mentions that he might work with the new MLB Network that's launching soon, though I suspect that he's likely too worn out to be a play by play guy right now, it's going to be weird seeing him in a different capacity.