We’ve got two small bits of news today in the Pirates’ unending search to manage their 2011 team. The first is that the Pirates are planning on “talking to” (interviewing?) Rangers hitting coach Clint Hurdle now that the World Series is over. Since it was obvious that the Pirates were waiting to talk to someone on the Rangers or Giants, it’s hardly surprising news given Hurdle’s history with the Rockies. Charlie has already noted that replacing Jim Tracy’s replacement with the guy that got replaced by Jim Tracy would nicely illustrate how meaningless the circle of managerial life is. I don’t think Hurdle would be an awful hire, but I’m not sure he’d be the most inspired choice either.
The other piece of news is that the Nationals announced their coaching staff and Bo Porter is on it. He almost certainly wouldn’t have accepted that job if he thought he was going to be named Pirates’ manager (actually, he probably asked the Pirates if he was still a candidate and they told him he wasn’t — but that’s just idle speculation on my part), so we can cross him off the list.
I’m sticking with Banister as the most likely choice at this point. Given his history with the minor leaguers, I think hiring him would make a lot of sense, even if the chattering heads in the Pittsburgh media will hate the hire. I’m guessing that the Bucs will move quickly at this point. If we don’t have a manager by Friday, I’ll be shocked.
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