An already tumultuous offseason in Pittsburgh took another turn Monday when the Pirates fired general manager Neal Huntington a month into his search for a new manager.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also reported the decision was driven by owner Bob Nutting, who issued a statement after manager Clint Hurdle was fired Sept. 29 saying Huntington and his staff "are the right people to continue to lead our baseball operations department."
To that end, Huntington had been interviewing potential replacements for Hurdle the last few weeks, but Nutting said in a release Monday that the team will now turn its focus to filling the GM opening.
"While we will pause the managerial search process for the time being, we are appreciative of the work that has been done thus far and confident in the candidates available to us," the owner's statement read in part. "The hiring of a new general manager will only help clarify the situation further for those candidates."
Pirates announce Executive Vice President and General Manager Neal Huntington has been relieved of his duties. pic.twitter.com/eIoZu8JU5g
— Pirates (@Pirates) October 28, 2019
The Huntington move comes less than a week after the Pirates announced that team president Frank Coonelly was leaving the team, with former Penguins executive Travis Williams to replace him.
All three men had been in their roles for a significant amount of time, with Coonelly and Huntington coming aboard in September 2007 and Hurdle arriving in November 2010.
Pirates owner Bob Nutting, not known for throwing money around, is now eating about $10M combined on Hurdle/Huntington contracts. Both had 2 years left. Hurdle made $3M plus, Huntington about $2M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 28, 2019
While a full housecleaning in Pittsburgh wouldn't have come as a surprise entering the offseason considering the franchise's struggles in recent years, the order of operations has been unusual.
According to various reports, the Pirates already had interviewed numerous people for the managerial opening, including Pirates special assistant Jeff Banister and third base coach Joey Cora, Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Diamondbacks vice president of player development Mike Bell, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, A's bench coach Ryan Christenson and quality control coach Mark Kotsay, Cardinals first base coach Stubby Clapp, Dodgers first base coach George Lombard and Twins bench coach Derek Shelton.
