Pirates cut ties with manager Tracy
10/05/2007 6:16 PM ET
Pirates cut ties with manager Tracy
New general manager Huntington decides to take new direction
By George Von Benko / MLB.com
PITTSBURGH -- New Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington
continued his house cleaning process on Friday, relieving manager Jim Tracy
of his duties. Huntington also dismissed senior director of player
development Brian Graham, senior director of scouting Ed Creech and director
of baseball operations Jon Mercurio.
"This is a very difficult day as a professional," Huntington said. "This is a
very difficult day for me as a person. These decisions are never easy. Since
my appointment as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates we've undergone
an exhaustive review of what is here, who we are, what we do, who is in
place, what's good and unfortunately in some situations what's not so good.
"After that gathering of information -- we took a very systematic approach to
analyzing that information -- after analyzing that information and accessing
that information it became very clear to me that we needed some change. If we
are going to successfully implement our philosophies, our vision and our
system we needed to change the leadership. We needed to change the direction
of our baseball operations department."
The 51-year-old Tracy was named Pittsburgh's manager on Oct. 21, 2005. Tracy
posted a 135-189 record (.417 winning percentage) in his two seasons with the
Pirates. He guided the Bucs to a 67-95 record in 2006 and a 68-94 record in
2007 as the team lost 13 of its last 15 games. In his seven years as a Major
League manager, Tracy has posted a 562-572 record (.496 winning percentage).
Graham, 47, spent the past six seasons overseeing Pittsburgh's Minor League
system after being hired on Dec. 3, 2001. Mercurio, 42, completed his 20th
season with the Pirates organization, his 12th as a member of the baseball
operations staff. Creech, 55, spent the last six seasons with Pittsburgh
after being named the club's scouting director on Nov. 20, 2001.
The Pirates also announced that assistant general manager Doug Strange will
now serve the club as a special assistant to Huntington.
"I believe Doug has a quality background and is a quality person." Huntington
stated. "His experience as a player, his experience as an amateur evaluator,
as an evaluator of professional talent and his front office experience will
be a perfect complement to me and to the other special assistants currently
with the Pittsburgh Pirates."
Huntington had a prior relationship with Tracy, Graham and Creech and said
that made this a very difficult process.
"Stepping back to the four individuals who will no longer be here,"
Huntington said. "Three of them I have personal relationships with going back
13, 14, 16 years. As a general manager you're going to have to make difficult
decisions. Going forward I had to make the decision that I felt was right for
the Pittsburgh Pirates. I respect them as professionals, I respect them as
family men, and I respect them as baseball men. I want to thank them for
their time and energy, their commitment to trying to do the right thing for
this organization and I certainly wish them nothing but success in their
future endeavors."
Huntington would not set a timetable for the search process in replacing the
manager or the other openings.
"I think it will fall into place as we do our research," Huntington said. "As
we identify the available candidates, to me I think the assistant general
manager is going to be a very important hire because he or she can help me as
we move forward in the other process and the other decisions that we have to
make. That won't prohibit us if the right candidate is there and if we go
through the research and interviews and if there's a candidate that we need
to move on then we can move. We're not going to tie ourselves up by waiting
for somebody to become available. We're going to make sure we do the process
the right way and that we identify the right talent and bring them in.
"I'm not married to a date -- we need to do our research and our homework and
when the right candidate presents himself, we will know it."
No decisions were made on the rest of Tracy's coaching staff: pitching coach
Jim Colborn, hitting coach Jeff Manto, first-base coach John Shelby,
third-base coach Jeff Cox, bench coach Jim Lett and bullpen coach Bobby
Cuellar. All have contracts that expire at the end of this month.
"We're not going to stand in anyone's way who wishes to leave on the Major
League coaching staff," Huntington said. "We will not stand in anyone's way.
What we will hope is that they will communicate with us if they have another
opportunity -- then at that point in time we'll have to address their
situation. What we do not want to do is treat these people with disrespect --
we do not want this process to drag out through the month of October and them
to wind up without a job. We want to make sure that they have every
opportunity to secure employment for 2008 season."
As the season ended, Tracy had expressed his desire to be given the
opportunity to finish out the final year of his contract with the Pirates.
However, he was also well aware that, in the end, the wins and losses would
likely dictate management's decision.
"I started with this job a year ago and have been at this job for less than
two years," Tracy said. "If moving forward, I am the guy that he wants to
continue to manage this club, that's exactly what I want to do. If they have
other plans and decide to go in a different direction, that's their choice."
Several names are swirling as possible candidates to replace Tracy.
Huntington may look to Cleveland, the organization with which he spent the
past 10 years. Indians third-base coach Joel Skinner, who does have previous
managerial experience, seems a likely candidate. Skinner managed 76 games as
an interim manager for the Indians back in 2002 and also spent six years as a
manager in the Minors.
If Huntington looks within the organization, the names of both Trent Jewitt,
the Pirates' Triple-A Indianapolis manager, and Pirates color analyst Bob
Walk may surface.
Former managers who played for the Pirates may be on the radar -- those
include former Oakland manager Ken Macha and former Houston manager Phil
Garner. Other former Pirates that are coaching may be on the list. They
include Detroit first-base coach Andy Van Slyke and Arizona bench coach Jay
Bell.
What are the qualities that Huntington is seeking in a manager?
"Philosophically I'm looking for a manager with energy," Huntington
explained. "I'm looking for a manager with passion, I'm looking for a manager
that is a tireless instructor, I'm looking for a manager that's going to
instill some discipline, I'm looking for a manager that's an exhaustive
communicator and I'm looking for a manager that wants to return the pride to
the Pittsburgh Pirates -- not only externally but internally. How we wear the
uniform, how we present ourselves within that uniform and how we play the
game."
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