Stop the presses

Surprisingly, and presumably after watching Chuck Tanner and Jim Leyland sit in the stands for years takings notes on the goings on at PNC Park for employers that weren't himself, Dave Littlefield has decided to hire an advanced scout and it's none other than Kent Tekulve. It is encouraging to see that they've filled a void as glaring as this one (you can say what you want, spreadsheets and videotape only go so far), though I'm a bit skeptical (shocking, I know). It seems like a rather big job for one person to do, though I checked some other team websites and it does seem like everyone does things differently. Littlefield says as much and he also said this is how Tracy wanted it done, so I'll take his word for it (a risky proposition, I know). It just seems a little fishy that a rather prominent former player (at the least you can call Teke a "fan favorite" though his role on the '79 team might elevate him to "local legend") who's been more or less begging for a job (he really wanted the road color guy gig that went to Wehner last year) magically is qualified to fill what some consider to be a huge hole in the front office. With one fell swoop, Littlefield shuts up the people that want to see an advanced scout and keeps Teke happy. If Tekulve is bad at his job (he's never really done anything like this before, since his pitching career ended he's been a color guy for the Phillies and the Director of Baseball Operations for Washington Wild Things) DL can stick to the old method and no one will be the wiser.

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