Pirates fire general manager Neal Huntington

The Pittsburgh Pirates made their housecleaning complete by firing general manager Neal Huntington, overhauling a front office that Pirates chairman Bob Nutting once called the best management team in baseball.

The Pirates will introduce Travis Williams, a former Penguins executive, as their new president on Monday afternoon. Assistant general manager Kevan Graves will serve as the interim GM during the transition.

The move puts their search for a new manager on hold.

Huntington’s dismissal comes on the heels of the Pirates “parting ways” with president Frank Coonelly last week, the firing of manager Clint Hurdle before the season finale. The Pirates also fired bench coach Tom Prince and Ray Searage from their coaching staff. This move signals that more front-office and coaching changes could be coming.

Upon firing Hurdle, Nutting issued a public vote of confidence for Huntington, director of player development Kyle Stark, minor league operations director Larry Broadway and amateur scouting director Joe DelliCarri: “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.”

On Sunday, Nutting met with Huntington, who had two years remaining on his contract and was expected to be retained through the transition from Coonelly to Williams. Instead, the Pirates will have a completely new management team in place for the 2020 season.

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

“This past season was by far the most frustrating and challenging season that I have experienced as owner. It became clear to me as the season progressed that significant change was necessary in order to refresh our baseball operations. The decisions that have been made over the past month were not easy and have been the result of a systematic and thorough review, and further reinforced through multiple conversations with people that I trust and respect throughout baseball.

“It was critical that we have our new team president in place to conduct the search for the next leader of our baseball operations department. With the naming of Travis Williams to the position of president today, we will immediately begin the search process. I am confident that we will find the right person.”

Huntington was hired as the Pirates’ general manager in September 2007. His initial moves were to fire manager Jim Tracy, as well as the senior director of player development, scouting director and director of baseball operations. Huntington first hired John Russell as manager, followed by Hurdle.

Under Huntington, the Pirates ended a 20-year losing streak that was the worst in major professional sports. In 2013, they clinched their first winning season season since 1992, finishing with a 94-68 record and winning a wild-card playoff game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the divisional playoffs.

The Pirates made three consecutive playoff appearances from 2013-15 but failed to win the NL Central division title or any postseason series in that span. Huntington was responsible for drafting Pedro Alvarez, Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, Josh Bell and Austin Meadows, but also blamed for trading Cole and Andrew McCutchen in a three-day span in January 2018.

Huntington’s trade of Cole to the Houston Astros with two years of team control remaining might have sealed his fate, as the Pirates received pitchers Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz, third baseman Colin Moran and outfielder Jason Martin in return. Cole led MLB in strikeouts this season, is a leading AL Cy Young candidate and won Game 5 of the World Series against the Washington Nationals on Sunday night.

Dealing Meadows and pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz to the Tampa Bay Rays for pitcher Chris Archer only made matters worse. Glasnow and Meadows shined for the Rays, while Archer struggled for the Pirates as they finished 69-93 and in last place in the NL Central this season. The Pirates were 44-45 on July 7, only 2 1/2 games out of first place and wild-card contention but followed the All-Star break by losing 24 of 28 games.

The second half of the season included clubhouse chaos, as the Pirates suspended a coach for an altercation with a player and saw reliever Kyle Crick injure his finger in a fight with All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez. Later, Vazquez was arrested and charged with statutory sexual assault and is facing multiple felonies.

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