Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Newsstand

Padres Hire Jayce Tingler As Manager

By | at

Oct. 28: The Padres have announced the signing of Tingler to a three-year contract.

“Jayce has extensive experience in virtually every aspect of coaching, player development and baseball operations, and our entire group believes that he’s the right person to lead our talented roster,” general manager A.J. Preller said within today’s press release. “His multi-faceted skill set, combined with his ability to develop talent and help players reach their potential at the Major League level, were key factors in his selection as our manager. We are excited for Jayce to build upon the foundation we’ve laid in San Diego as we set our sights on October baseball.”

Oct. 24: The Padres are set to hire Jayce Tingler away from the Rangers as their new manager, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports (via Twitter). Tingler, 38, is currently the Major League Player Development Field Coordinator on skipper Chris Woodward’s staff.

By all indications, this hiring promises to be a pivotal one. The Padres are, after all, an organization wrapping up a decade largely spent in rebuild, with the recent front office regime led by general manager A.J. Preller struggling to field a competitive roster despite several big-money roster reinforcements and a farm system generally regarded as one of the game’s best.

Andy Green was tabbed as Preller’s choice for the managerial seat in 2016 following Bud Black’s dismissal midway through an ill-fated 2015 campaign, but Green’s tenure in San Diego produced just a 274-366 record. Recent indications had pointed toward Ron Washington and Tingler — two former Preller associates from his time with the Rangers — being the final two candidates, but it appears that the Padres will go with the younger of those two options.

Indeed, the 38-year-old Tingler becomes the second-youngest manager in the majors, behind only Rocco Baldelli of the Twins. Baldelli’s early success in the managerial seat — as well as the success experienced by young managers like Alex Cora and AJ Hinch — demonstrates that a grey beard is hardly a job requirement when it comes to major league managing, but that certainly doesn’t mean Tingler is a conventional candidate. Tingler is neither a garlanded former big leaguer nor an up-the-ranks minor league manager, but a little-known former minor leaguer with a wide range of on-field and front office experience.

Tingler spent time as a skipper at the Rookie and Dominican Summer League levels before being named as Texas’ minor league field coordinator from 2012-14. He served as a coach on the staff of Jeff Banister in 2015 and 2016 before entering the front office as an assistant GM in 2017. Tingler served as bench coach for interim manager Don Wakamatsu at the end of 2018 and interviewed to be Rangers manager that offseason (he was ultimately passed over in favor of the aforementioned Woodward). More recently, Tingler has been serving as manager of the Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League.

The Padres went 70-92 in their final season under Green’s command in 2019, following an offseason that saw them add third baseman Manny Machado on a club-record 10-year, $300MM deal. As Passan notes in a follow-up tweet, Tingler’s bilingual skills likely were an asset for him throughout the hiring process, as the club has several near- and long-term players for whom Spanish is a first language (link). Adrian Morejon, Michel Baez, Luis Urias, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manuel Margot, Dinelson Lamet, Francisco Mejia, and Luis Patino represent just a small sampling of the numerous young players in the Padres organization hailing from the Carribean, South America or Mexico, as Preller’s Latin American scouting emphasis continues to have a surface-level impact on the San Diego pipeline.

Red Sox Name Chaim Bloom Chief Baseball Officer

By | at

Oct. 28: The Red Sox have announced the hiring via press release.

“We believe Chaim is exactly the right person to lead the Boston Red Sox baseball operation based on a number of attributes we sought in this process,” owner John Henry said in a statement. “We had done exhaustive work narrowing down candidates. That work led us to Chaim, who was the first executive invited to Boston for an interview. He made a strong impression on all of us and validated our initial research that he was the one to lead our baseball operation.

“We particularly want to thank Raquel Ferreira, Brian O’Halloran, Eddie Romero and Zack Scott for their extraordinary leadership over the past two months in guiding our baseball operation forward without missing a beat and ensuring we had a very strong start to this offseason.”

Oct. 25, 4:54pm: Brian O’Halloran will be promoted from assistant general manager to general manager, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link).

4:01pm: The Red Sox have “finalized” an agreement to bring aboard Chaim Bloom as their next baseball operations chief, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). Bloom will take the title of chief baseball officer, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweeted. Financial details remain to be seen.

It’s a fascinating hire for the Boston organization, which cut loose veteran exec Dave Dombrowski late in a disappointing 2019 season. Though Dombrowski helped deliver a World Series title, ownership decided it wanted a new direction — and went on to steer into a decidedly new-school course by hiring Bloom.

The Red Sox certainly got an up-close look at Bloom’s handiwork with the Rays. His Tampa Bay outfit ran past the 2018 World Series champs, pacing them by a dozen games despite carrying a payroll into the season that was barely more than a quarter of the war chest deployed by the Sox.

Boston’s last run with an analytically minded front-office leader didn’t end quite as hoped, with the Ben Cherington-built rosters delivering gloom as much as glory. But the allure is obvious. One of Bloom’s predecessors in Tampa Bay, Andrew Friedman, has since moving to Los Angeles shown convincingly that an efficiently managed large budget can produce perennial high-end performance at a profit-minded price.

It was a rather tidy hiring process for the Red Sox, who trusted a four-person executive team with many notable decisions this winter while lining up Bloom for the job. No doubt the organization already knew at least its general direction with the hiring. Bloom long seemed a clear possibility, particularly after narrowly missing on a few top baseball ops gigs last winter. The 36-year-old comes with an impeccable resume and widespread respect in the industry. Interestingly, he was the only outside candidate to interview for the post, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).

Bloom will jump into an organization that already has a built-out, modern front office infrastructure. No doubt he’ll tweak the organization to suit his preferences, but this isn’t a fixer-upper situation. That’s also the case on the roster, which features the sort of talent that … well, the kind that won a World Series just one year ago.

There’ll be plenty of work to do for Bloom and his new charges, right out of the gates. He’s not going to blow things up or drop the bottom out of the payroll. But there are plenty of clear signs that the organization will task the new baseball ops head with paring salary — which means making some tough choices about who stays and who goes.

One big question will be answered without input from Bloom and the Sox: the status of J.D. Martinez, who can opt out of his contract. Good as he is, the club surely would love to regain a whole lot of financial flexibility in one fell swoop. Otherwise, Bloom will need to look hard to some of its spendier pieces — Jackie Bradley Jr., perhaps even Mookie Betts — as trade candidates.

It doesn’t appear that Bloom will have much free capital to work with to add talent. But that’s precisely the challenge he was brought in to take on. Bloom will be working to fill needs — on the right side of the infield and in the bullpen, at a minimum — in a creative manner. Fortunately, there are loads of veteran free agent options in both areas, many of whom figure to be had for relatively low cost. And Bloom will no doubt take a long look at other cost-efficient possibilities. If he does a particularly good job of supplementing an immensely talented core that could still rise back up, a return to serious contention in 2020 cannot be ruled out.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pirates Fire General Manager Neal Huntington

By | at

9:18am: The Pirates have announced Huntington’s dismissal.

“I greatly appreciate Neal’s dedication to the Pirates organization and our city over the past 12 seasons,” owner Bob Nutting said in a press release. “His time with the Pirates should always be remembered for ending a long stretch of futility and bringing Postseason baseball back to Pittsburgh.”

The Pirates “will pause” their search for a new manager while seeking out a new GM, per Nutting. Assistant general manager Kevan Graves will serve as interim GM while the club looks for a replacement for Huntington.

Mackey further tweets that the decision to move on from Huntington was driven by Nutting (as opposed to incoming president Travis Williams). Nutting informed Huntington of the decision yesterday.

8:15am: The Pirates have already dismissed their manager and two of their coaches in addition to parting ways with team president Frank Coonelly, but they’re not done with changes yet. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pittsburgh will also announce the dismissal of general manager Neal Huntington later today (Twitter link).

Huntington, 50, is one of the sport’s longest-tenured executives, having been hired at the conclusion of the 2007 season. His ousting represents perhaps the final step in a total overhaul of the organization that began when manager Clint Hurdle was fired on the final day of the season. Like Hurdle, Huntington had two years remaining on his contract.

Neal Huntington | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The parallels between Hurdle’s firing and today’s firing of Huntington don’t stop with the pair’s contractual status, however. Both dismissals were preceded by public assertions to the contrary; Hurdle told The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel that he’d received assurance of his 2020 return just days before being let go, and Huntington is now out the door a month later despite a clear vote of confidence from owner Bob Nutting.

“While we felt it was time to make a change at the managerial level, I strongly believe that Neal Huntington and the leadership team that he has assembled are the right people to continue to lead our baseball operations department,” Nutting said in a press release announcing the decision to move on from Hurdle. The extent to which Huntington’s departure is tied to incoming president Travis Williams isn’t clear, but the move is nevertheless a glaring contradiction to Nutting’s end-of-season assessment of his front office.

That the move comes with the organization’s managerial search now well underway is all the more confusing; one would imagine that an incoming GM would want say over who’s writing out the lineup card on a daily basis, but unless the plan is to put that search on hold, the Pirates are much further along in that process than in the process of naming a new GM. And, presumably, Huntington has been involved in all of the interviews conducted to this point.

Huntington took over the Pirates at a time when Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche were among the club’s most notable names and ushered in a new era at PNC Park, turning over the roster and developing stars such as Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Gerrit Cole. But despite qualifying for three consecutive postseasons (2013-15), Huntington and his staff never saw the club win an NL Central title or advance beyond the National League Division series. It’s now been four full seasons since the Pirates’ last playoff berth, and the 2019 season was a particularly disheartening year. Pittsburgh finished with a 69-93 record, falling to last place in the division.

There’s been no shortage of criticism over recent moves made by the Pirates, with the trade that brought right-hander Chris Archer to Pittsburgh among the more widely panned deals in recent memory. Huntington agreed to part with longtime top prospects Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow in addition to highly regarded pitching prospect Shane Baz. The move was designed to bring an affordable, high-end starter with three-and-a-half seasons of club control to Pittsburgh, but Archer has struggled in the Steel City while Glasnow and Meadows now look like foundational pieces for the Tampa Bay organization.

Of course, the very fact that Archer is so affordable could very well be what prompted him to hold such appeal to Huntington and his staff in the first place. Pirates ownership has only thrice green-lighted a payroll north of $90MM, constantly leaving the front office scrambling to find bargains and patch together rosters with rebound candidates and the leftovers of the free-agent market. Without the type of annual payroll constraints they face, perhaps Huntington & Co. wouldn’t have been so drawn to Archer in the first place. There’s no way to know for sure, however, and the end result still speaks loudest of all.

Other recent moves have been more of a mixed bag. The trade that sent McCutchen to San Francisco brought Rookie of the Year candidate Bryan Reynolds and reliever Kyle Crick to Pittsburgh. The trade of Cole to Houston in that same 2017-18 offseason netted six years of a useful rotation piece in Joe Musgrove, but the others in that swap (Colin Moran, Michael Feliz and Jason Martin) have yet to bring much value to the Pirates. As with the Archer trade, finances were a major consideration in both the McCutchen and Cole trades; it was clear at the time of the moves that neither would fit into the Pittsburgh budget any longer despite a lack of additional spending.

Pittsburgh’s reluctance to spend, in fact, was concerning enough to the union that the MLBPA brought their concerns to the Commissioner’s Office and requested an investigation of how the team allotted its funds from revenue sharing. The league responded with a statement that it had no such concerns regarding the Pirates organization.

Such payroll restrictions will persist for whoever is hired to run the club’s baseball operations outfit moving forward. Owner Bob Nutting has never indicated any plans to sell the team. The Pirates recently extended their television contract with AT&T SportsNet, but terms of the deal remain unclear. Their previous agreement was one of the least-lucrative contracts in the game, though, and whatever increases in annual rights fees are included in the new deal will be baked into the contract in the form of gradual increases. In other words, a payroll hike in the near future doesn’t seem likely.

To the contrary, it feels more likely that the Bucs will instead be looking to shed payroll this winter. As I noted in previewing the club’s offseason a few days ago, this seems like the ideal time to market Marte to other clubs, and it’s worth wondering whether the Pirates would look to deal Archer as well after a disappointing season and a half (and with an increase in his salary looming). Problematic setup man Keone Kela is also a candidate to be shipped out.

All of those roster decisions will be at the forefront of the offseason questions facing whoever takes over Huntington’s now-vacant chair at the PNC Park offices. For the time being, Nutting and Williams will be frantically trying to assemble a new front-office staff and field staff as they look to usher in a new era of Pirates baseball. That process will very likely linger into the offseason, although with the Pirates unlikely to play for any notable free agents anyhow, perhaps a late entry into the market won’t really be an issue.

Angels To Hire Mickey Callaway As Pitching Coach

By | at

9:30 pm: Though the club is still yet to announce the deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post characterizes Callaway’s hiring as “official” (link). Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com also confirms the hire (link).

2:22 pm: The Angels have hired former Mets manager Mickey Callaway to be the new pitching coach, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. He’ll join newly-minted manager Joe Maddon’s staff in Los Angeles. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first mentioned that the two sides were close to an agreement. Per Nightengale, Callaway is stilled owed $1.05MM for the 2020 season by the Mets, who terminated his contract early.

Fired by the Mets just more than three weeks ago, It didn’t take long for Callaway to attract interest as a pitching coach, the role in which he made a name for himself. Though he’s drawn his fair share of criticism for his work leading the Mets over the last two seasons, he earned that position on the back of a half-decade of stellar work with the Indians’ pitching staff, which garnered him a reputation as one of the finest pitching coaches in the game.

Although Callaway and Maddon have never coached on the same staff, Callaway pitched for the Angels in parts of the 2002 and 2003 seasons, when Maddon served as the team’s bench coach. He also coached in the Indians’ dugout during the 2016 World Series, when his Indians were opposed by Maddon’s Cubs.

Between 2013-2017, the five years that Callaway served as the Indians’ pitching coach, no American League team managed a lower overall ERA than the Indians’ 3.65 mark. By all measures, Callaway’s Cleveland teams consistently ranked among the best pitching staffs in baseball. Of course, no small amount of that performance is owed to the superlative talents he had at his disposal: Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller, Carlos Carrasco, and others certainly put Callaway in an enviable position. Still, much of the development of Kluber, Carrasco, Danny Salazar, and Trevor Bauer came with Callaway at the helm; when he took over in 2013, Kluber was virtually anonymous, while Carrasco was a 26-year-old who had posted a 4.93 ERA in just 33 career games.

Red Sox Likely To Hire Chaim Bloom

By | at

Oct. 25: Bloom is “likely” to be hired by the Red Sox, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman adds, via Twitter, that the Red Sox are “close” to appointing him as the new head of their baseball operations department.

Oct.24: Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom is among those to have interviewed for the Red Sox GM opening, according to reporting from Chad Jennings and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The club’s hiring search has been notably quiet since the dismissal of president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, but Jennings says the process “seems to be coming to an end.” ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that “multiple sources” believe Bloom will ultimately get the job (Twitter link).

Bloom, 36, has been in the mix for several high-profile executive jobs in recent years. The Yale graduate was reported as the runner-up to Brodie Van Wagenen in the Mets search for a new GM last year, while San Francisco also considered him for the leadership position that ultimately went to Farhan Zaidi. The Twins and Phillies were also said to have considered Bloom for a GM role in recent seasons.

Though youthful by most standards, Bloom is a front office veteran with over 15 seasons of experience in the Tampa Bay front office. After beginning as an intern with the organization in 2005, Bloom worked in minor league operations for several years before being named as director of baseball operations in 2011. The Philadelphia native was promoted to the role of vice president of baseball operations in 2014, with a “senior” title being attached to that role in 2016 when the club also promoted Erik Neander to GM.

The Red Sox parted ways with Dombrowski on Sept 8 — less than 12 months after the club captured the 2018 World Series title. The organization has since entrusted operations to assistant GMs Eddie Romero, Zack Scott, and Brian O’Halloran, as well as senior vice president of major and minor league operations Raquel Ferreira.

Astros Fire Assistant GM Brandon Taubman

By | at

The Astros have fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman, as per a statement released by the team.  The move comes three days after news broke of an incident following Houston’s ALCS win over the Yankees on Saturday, when Taubman repeatedly yelled “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f—— glad we got Osuna!” at a group of three female reporters, a reference to one reporter’s criticism of the Astros’ 2018 acquisition of Roberto Osuna while the closer was serving a 75-game suspension under the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy.

The team’s full statement:

During the past two days, the Astros pro-actively assisted Major League Baseball in interviewing Astros employees as part of MLB’s investigation of the events published in the recent Sports Illustrated article. Major League Baseball also separately interviewed members of the media over the past 24 hours.

Our initial investigation led us to believe that Brandon Taubman’s inappropriate comments were not directed toward any reporter. We were wrong. We sincerely apologize to Stephanie Apstein, Sports Illustrated and to all individuals who witnessed this incident or were offended by the inappropriate conduct. The Astros in no way intended to minimize the issues related to domestic violence.

Our initial belief was based on witness statements about the incident. Subsequent interviews have revealed that Taubman’s inappropriate comments were, in fact, directed toward one or more reporters. Accordingly we have terminated Brandon Taubman’s employment with the Houston Astros. His conduct does not reflect the values of our organization and we believe this is the most appropriate course of action.

We are thankful to Major League Baseball and to everyone that cooperated in the investigation. As previously stated, the Astros are very committed to using our voice to create awareness and support on the issue of domestic violence. We fully support MLB and baseball’s stance and values regarding domestic violence. We will continue to make this cause a priority for our organization.

Apstein was the journalist who reported Taubman’s outburst in a piece for Sports Illustrated, which led to a statement from the Astros on Monday describing her story as “misleading and completely irresponsible,” and an “attempt to fabricate a story where one does not exist.”  After multiple other reporters confirmed Apstein’s account of events, the Astros issued two new statements from Taubman and owner Jim Crane, neither of which corrected the organization’s initial claim that Apstein’s story was false.

The Astros organization has been roundly criticized for its response to the situation, and ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reported earlier today that Taubman’s status with the team “has been under evaluation” in recent days.  Taubman was promoted to assistant GM before the 2019 season, following five and a half years with the team in various roles in the baseball operations department.

Phillies Hire Joe Girardi

By | at

3:06PM: The Phillies made the news official, announcing in a press release that Girardi has been signed to a three-year contract with a club option for the 2023 season.

8:03AM: The Phillies are expected to hire former Yankees and Marlins manager Joe Girardi as their new skipper, according to a tweet from Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. The club had recently been rumored to have Girardi among their final three candidates for the job, but Zolecki indicates that the former Yankee manager’s hiring is expected to be announced today (link). Girardi was reported to have undergone a second interview with the division-rival Mets on Tuesday, after receiving consideration for the Cubs managerial job that ultimately went to David Ross.

Girardi’s hiring comes in the wake of the Oct 10 firing of Gabe Kapler from the club’s managerial seat, and his installment should provide a pretty fair litmus test as to the viability of Philadelphia’s roster. The novice manager Kapler pushed an expectation-laden Phillies club to just a 161-163 record since being installed as manager in 2018, despite numerous high profile additions made by club GM Matt Klentak and president Andy MacPhail. Since 2018, the club added Carlos Santana, Jake Arrieta, Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, and several not-inexpensive bullpen arms on free agent deals, as ownership edicts about “stupid money” forecasted a win-at-all-costs organizational philosophy.

About those edicts: Phillies owner John Middleton was said to have the determining vote in the club’s search for a new skipper after similarly holding the last word in Kapler’s firing. Veteran managers Buck Showalter and Dusty Baker were both said to be among that final mix of candidates, but it appears that Girardi’s World Series pedigree won over Middleton in the end.

After a fifteen-year playing career that saw him capture three World Series rings as a catcher for the Yankees, Girardi was named manager of the then-Florida Marlins in 2006.  Girardi incredibly won Manager of the Year and got fired in the same offseason after just one year in Florida, allowing the Yankees to install him as manager in 2008.

Over the next ten seasons in the Bronx, Girardi would win a World Series championship and log six playoff appearances before being relieved of duty at the conclusion of the 2017 season. Since then, Girardi has appeared frequently as a television analyst, in addition to performing as the manager of the USA national team. The 55-year-old, Illinois native will bring a 988-794 managerial record to Philadelphia, leaving little doubt as to whether he has enough experience to guide the club’s assembly of high-profile players.

Aaron Hicks To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By | at

Yankees GM Brian Cashman provided injury updates on several key players today, according to a tweet from Marc Carig of The Athletic (link). Starter Masahiro Tanaka had a procedure to remove spurs from his right elbow, and slugger Luke Voit had a procedure done to address an injury in his core. However, the most notable revelation is that outfielder Aaron Hicks will ultimately opt for Tommy John surgery to address the flexor strain in his right arm. That surgery will likely place him on an eight-to-ten month recovery timeline.

Needless to say, the last eight months have been something of a worst-case scenario in regard to the seven-year, $70MM extension Hicks signed with the club back in February. Coming on the heels of three mostly excellent years to start Hicks’ Yankees career, the extension appeared to lock in a defensively capable center fielder and top prospect finally rounding into offensive form. With Hicks sidelined for the majority of the upcoming 2020 season, the pact is now likely to be placed under the microscope by New York-area observers.

It’s fair to wonder how Cashman might proceed in attending to Hicks’ absence. Does this increase the chances of Brett Gardner resigning in New York? Gardner filled in capably in center for much of the 2019 season, logging acceptable UZR (3.1) and DRS (-2) metrics at the position. Mike Tauchman also shouldered a portion of the load in covering for Hicks this past season, but it’s uncertain if he would be counted on as a full-time option there for 2020.

In an injury-limited season that did see him manage a return for the Yankees ALCS appearance, Hicks logged a .235/.325/.443 batting line (102 wRC+) in 255 plate appearances. The outfielder will account for a base salary of $10.5MM in 2020.

Cubs Hire David Ross As Manager

By | at

The Cubs have announced the signing of David Ross to a three-year managerial contract running through the 2022 season with a club option for 2023. Ross, a former hero of the club’s 2016 title run, will be formally introduced at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

The Cubs had previously been said to be in serious consideration of Astros coach Joe Espada for the opening, but it appears that they will turn instead to an in-house option in replacing the departed Joe Maddon. Ross has spent three seasons in the Cubs front office as a special assistant to baseball operations following a fifteen-year year playing career that saw him win World Series titles in both Boston and Chicago.

Though he does not have direct managerial experience to his name, Ross is a well-respected former catcher who has shared dugouts with some of the most revered names in the occupation’s history. As a player, Ross suited up for championship winners Maddon, Bobby Cox, Bruce Bochy, John Farrell, and Terry Francona.

At 42 years of age, Ross becomes the youngest Cubs manager since Jim Riggleman was hired to the post in 1995, and his hiring is in keeping with the wider trend of youthful managers being installed around the game (Ross will not even be the youngest manager hired this afternoon, as reports indicate the Padres have hired 38-year-old Jayce Tingler as their own newly minted skipper).

Following an 84-78 season that saw their postseason hopes crumble down the stretch, the Cubs and manager Joe Maddon parted ways at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Maddon, who helped the club break a 108-year World Series drought with their championship in ’16, has since found employment with the Angels.

Pirates, Team President Frank Coonelly Part Ways

By | at

The Pirates and Team President Frank Coonelly have mutually agreed to part ways, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (The organization has since announced the move). Coonelly, 59, had been with the organization since 2007. The club will name Coonelly’s replacement next Monday, adds Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). While Coonelly was responsible for the hiring of General Manager Neal Huntington just a month after the former came on board, Heyman adds that Huntington’s job remains safe.

Mackey reports that Pirates owner Bob Nutting was, unsurprisingly, significantly involved in today’s move. Nutting has become increasingly dissatisfied with the Pirates’ attendance, Mackey adds, although he also notes it difficult to gauge how much blame Coonelly should shoulder given the team’s underwhelming performance in recent seasons. Nutting himself, of course, has come under fire at times for the club’s payrolls, which consistently sit among the bottom third of the league.

This season was an unmitigated disaster for the organization. Not only did the team fall flat on the field, limping to a 69-93 record, it dealt with significant issues off it. Clubhouse discord bubbled to the surface and was leaked to the public, to say nothing of the heinous criminal acts allegedly committed by one of the organization’s highest-profile players. Coonelly certainly doesn’t deserve blame for all of the franchise’s woes, but it did seem that something of a house cleaning was in order, and Coonelly follows fired manager Clint Hurdle out the door.

It’s not yet clear what ramifications, if any, this will have on the Bucs’ baseball operations. 2020 could certainly be a make-or-break year for Huntington, at least. The organization is making changes both above and below him in the pecking order, so questions about his future as GM figure to persist in the coming months.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top