Though the Pirates have interviewed a ton of people for their vacant manager’s job, the only really inspiring one of the lot -- John Gibbons -- has opted out, preferring to remain the Royals’ bench coach. The thinking has been that those guys were all just fallbacks, and that Pittsburgh had its heart set on someone else -- Rangers’ bench coach Clint Hurdle -- who wasn’t available. Now that the Rangers season is over, he is available, and it’s being reported that the Bucs expect to call on him soon.
I like Hurdle. I don’t think he was responsible for the Rockies’ late 2007 run that everyone gave him credit forb, but I don’t think he was responsible for that early 2009 swoon that got him fired either. The Rockies are a streaky bunch, we’ve learned, both with and without Hurdle. He did about as good a job in Colorado as one could expect given the talent at any given time.
I don’t think anyone can do much to help the Pirates’ situation in the short term, but Hurdle is a steady guy and would be about the best viable choice for the Pirates to make.