MLB Pittsburgh Pirates Hire Clint Hurdle As Next Manager

Clint Hurdle will be responsible for turning around the most inept franchise in MLB. 

Hurdle was named manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. He signed a three-year contract and replaces John Russell who was fired at the season ended.

Hurdle will attempt to do something the five previous managers before him couldn’t do—a winning season in the last 18 years.

Hurdle’s resume includes a 534-625 record over eight seasons as the manager of the Colorado Rockies. His teams made one playoff appearance in those eight seasons, which included a run to the World Series in 2007.

Hurdle has also been a minor league manager with the New York Mets. He was last year's hitting coach for the Texas Rangers and previously was the hitting coach for the the Rockies.

Is Hurdle the right guy for the job? I have no clue.

What I do know, is that talent wins in baseball. And the Pirates don’t have a lot of talent on that team right now.

They have a couple of solid building blocks offensively in Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker. Other than those four, they don’t have much in terms of solid players that a manager would want to build around, especially in their pitching staff.

Hurdle and the rest of the Pirate organization is going to have to figure out a way to develop some starters. Zach Duke and Paul Maholm haven’t worked out and Ross Ohlendorf and Charlie Morton aren’t the answers either.

If Hurdle is going to have any success in his three years as Pirates’ manager, he is going to need to get some starting pitching.

The Pirates will hold a press conference today to announce the hiring.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg