Pirates owner Bob Nutting isn’t going to sell the team or fire himself. However, Nutting did realize that the road to recovering the legacy of his organization starts with making considerable changes. Nutting confirmed this on Monday by announcing the dismissal of Neal Huntington as general manager.
Nutting also announced the hiring of Travis Williams as team president, replacing Frank Coonelly.
“I think Travis is going to be great. He’s exactly what we need at the right time,” Nutting said. “He has a deep connection with Pittsburgh. He has a deep history of success in other organizations, driving both culture, fan experience and winning.
“That’s exactly what we need to see, so I am confident that we have exactly the right person at the right time to move this organization forward.”
There was a mix of cautious optimism and skepticism as Nutting’s comments started to make the rounds on social media. Fans are wondering if Nutting will ever bring anything resembling championship baseball to PNC Park.
We won’t know that answer for a while, but we did learn quite a bit on Monday.
Nutting has a heart
One of the loudest questions from fans is: “Does Nutting care about the team other than making money?” He gave a resounding answer.
“There’s no question that I’ve heard that. I don’t know how to address it other than with our actions that we’re going to move forward,” Nutting said. “We need to demonstrate with our actions that we’re going to move forward. Demonstrate with our actions that we’re going to put the very best team on the field that we possibly can.”
There will be fans who won’t believe Nutting until he spends more on payroll and the team gets results. It’s fair to be skeptical. But it’s reasonable to note that for the first time in a while, messaging from the Pirates was human.
Nutting also had a promise that you can be sure will be watched closely.
“We’re going to be honest. We’re going to tell it like it is,” Nutting said. “We are going to move forward with the strongest possible team. We want to demonstrate our gratitude to the fans and our commitment to winning at this organization.”
Hate it or love it, Nutting is the owner and he’s made it clear that he’s not going anywhere. It’ll take some time before we know how much Nutting has learned, but we do know he’s heard your angst and wants to fix it.
What’s the plan?
Kevan Graves is the interim general manager as Williams leads the search to replace Huntington.
Graves played college baseball and graduated from Dartmouth in 1999-2003. After his graduation, Graves took a job in the San Francisco Giants’ legal department.
A little over a year later, Graves became a member of the inaugural class of the Executive Development Program in the MLB Commissioner’s Office, where he worked primarily with the Labor Relations and Baseball Operations Departments on contract analysis and various special projects.
Graves has worked his way up in the Pirates organization to become an assistant general manager. He is a sharp baseball man who checks a lot of the proverbial boxes for today’s GM. Don’t be surprised if he emerges as a strong candidate for the permanent job.
Graves will be a general manager someday, so why not here, with the team he knows as well as anyone?
Manager search
The team has made it clear finding a general manager will pause the field manager search. Williams said the GM search would be expedient, and it needs to be.
“This is going to be a process that we’re going to do as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” Williams said. “We’re not going to let quick get in the way of good, though, and make sure that we get the right person in place.”
As of now, the known candidates for the skipper role are: Pirates special assistant Jeff Banister; Diamondbacks vice president of player development Mike Bell; A’s bench coach Ryan Christenson; Cardinals first base coach Stubby Clapp, Astros bench coach Joe Espada, A’s quality control coach Mark Kotsay; Twins bench coach Derek Shelton; Dodgers first base coach George Lombard; and Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro.
However, the Giants, Mets and Royals still have jobs open. The Pirates will need to move with urgency for the candidate they desire.
Roster
The new GM will have to decide on Chris Archer’s $9 million option for 2020, along with other key decisions. Huntington gave strong hints publicly and privately that Archer would return. Will a new GM see it the same way?
There are 10 players, including Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove and Adam Frazier, who are eligible for salary arbitration. Coonelly often said that this group was part of the reason that payroll was low. In theory, payroll will increase as these guys go above league minimum. Will that leave room for more spending to improve in areas like catcher and starting pitching? Nutting didn’t give much clarity.
“We will never use the economic system as an excuse because that would immediately be defeatist. We’re not going to do that,” Nutting said. “However, we have to be realistic and communicate more clearly and more directly what those economic challenges that we face are. The idea that we are hoarding cash as a team is simply not accurate. We will find a more compelling and complete way to make sure that is an issue that simply is not on the table. It is an unnecessary drag, and it’s not an accurate narrative.”
As the World Series wraps up, we’ll start to see which moves the Pirates make. This will be an opportunity for Nutting to put some action behind his words.
Nubyjas Wilborn: nwilborn@post-gazette.com and Twitter @nwilborn19
First Published: October 29, 2019, 2:26 p.m.