Pittsburgh Pirates

I'm not sure what the Pirates are looking for in a manager right now, but apparently a proven track record is not one of the qualifications. 

Hometown boy Ken Macha was told by General Manager Neal Huntington that he is no longer being considered for the position.  This came several days after the Seattle Mariners hired leading candidate Eric Wedge, and John Gibbons removed himself from consideration.

I know everyone has been on the edge of their seats anxiously awaiting to see who would be so lucky to be honored by achieving my year-end Pirates awards.

On a team that lost 105 games, awards aren't likely for many of these guys. Or deserved for that matter. What fun would that be though?

Let's dive right in and see who receives the dubious honors to conclude the 2010 season.

Feel free to comment and add your own opinions on each award.

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Now that perceived top candidate Eric Wedge will be donning a Seattle Mariners uniform on opening day 2011, that leaves the Pirates in a position to take a look at what's left.  The front office has interviewed many candidates ranging from Carlos Tosca to Bo Porter to Dale Sveum.

Myself and others have been campaigning for names such as Phil Garner, Tony Pena and Ken Macha to become the new Pirates skipper.  None of these guys will have a chance at the job though.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are currently interviewing candidates to replace the recently fired John Russell. I thought I'd take some time to break down how I view the leading candidates.

Let's start with the candidates the Pirates have already interviewed. Their career win-loss record is in parentheses.

Eric Wedge (561-573)

Pro

Managed a young small market team to an ALCS appearance.

After last week's firing of former pirates manager John Russell, several names have emerged as potential candidates.  Some, such as Phil Garner and Eric Wedge would be considered good hires.

There are others though, including names such as Andy Van Slyke and Bob Walk that would be awful hires.

Over the past week, both guys have been gaining some steam popularity wise, and that's a bad sign.  It would be just like the Pirates to offer one of these guys the job. 

With John Russell gone, the top priority is now on selecting a new, hopefully winning, manager for the team. There are several good candidates, some of whom have strong Pittsburgh ties.

That should not be a litmus test, but could be a useful tiebreaker, if aptitudes are otherwise comparable.

As of Monday morning, he is out as the Pirates manager. Russell was the third full-time manager since 2001, not counting Pete Mackanin's stint as interim manager after the departure of Lloyd McClendon.

So, after the Gene Lamonts, the McClendons and the Jim Tracys, who is suitable to manage this team and, dare I say it, turn this mess around?

Here are my op five candidates that I feel the Pirates should look at to fill the position.

As expected, the Pittsburgh Pirates showed manager John Russell the door late Monday morning.

No matter the reasons or excuses, you just cannot lose 300 games in three seasons and expect to keep your dugout job in any level of baseball.

General manager Neil Huntington says that the search for a replacement for Russell has already begun in organizational meetings in Bradenton, Florida.

The words "superstar" and "Pittsburgh Pirates" haven't gone together since a young kid named Barry Bonds was making his clean mark on Major League Baseball as a five-tool left fielder during the Pirate's last winning season. That seems like a lifetime ago, when in reality it was roughly 20 years. Hard to believe that there are children in college who weren't born yet the last time the Pirates were any good or had a superstar.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a starting rotation (with the possible exception of James McDonald) that would be kindly described as "undistinguished." They do, however, have strong late-innings pitchers in Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek.

But the Pirates have unexpected pitching strength where one would least expect it in a core of middle inning relievers who can pitch long.