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Pirates owner Bob Nutting talks to reporters next to new team president Travis Williams on Oct. 28 at PNC Park.
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Analyzing the impact of the Pirates hiring a search firm

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Analyzing the impact of the Pirates hiring a search firm

The Pirates have hired a search firm, Korn Ferry, to help them find the right general manager to succeed Neal Huntington.

OK, great. But what does that actually mean and also say about where the Pirates are with making a rather crucial hire?

After talking to a few executives and scouts around the league, the overarching takeaway was this: They took an important — and necessary — step toward making a crucial hire, someone brought in during a difficult time to steer the ship in the proper direction.

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“It tells me they’re casting a very wide and expansive net,” one National League executive said. “It also tells me they may not be as dialed into the industry as they would like.

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“But I give them credit for realizing their blind spots and adjusting accordingly.”

The Pirates might debate whether the hiring of Korn Ferry indicates a “blind spot” or whether it’s simply owner Bob Nutting and new President Travis Williams bringing additional resources to the table and trying to do the best job possible, but the end result there doesn’t really matter.

The Pirates took an extra step to try to get something right, and it’s hard to find a problem with that. It also makes sense given Williams’ background, which is obviously not in baseball.

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Korn Ferry won’t guarantee the Pirates make a perfect hire, but it may prevent them from making a stupid one. Another NL executive was basically mortified when he saw guys such as Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette linked to the position.

The Pirates have made bad personnel moves before, and the hope is that Korn Ferry (or any search firm) would theoretically prevent them from making another one.

“I think it’s an attempt by Travis Williams to bring the Pirates into today’s age with their processes,” that NL executive said.

“There are certain candidates that have been mentioned that would be an unmitigated [expletive] disaster if they hired these guys.

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“[This hire] needs to be someone with a better sense of what today’s game actually requires in terms of implementation and decision-making and the collaborative nature of healthy front offices. It’s more than a couple friends at the top making decisions independently of everyone else.”

The hiring of Korn Ferry means a couple additional things for the Pirates.

For one, it’s safe to assume it will include a bevy of discussions with the commissioner’s office and throughout Major League Baseball. Those are the advantages of hiring a search firm; these people know people. It should also strengthen their line to the commissioner’s office.

The hiring of Korn Ferry could also have negative side effects, at least as far as diversity and the type of candidates the Pirates could have brought to them.

Major League Baseball severed its relationship with Korn Ferry back in November 2016, frustrated with the lack of diversity it produced.

Instead of funneling minority candidates to front offices, an alarming number had ties to former Indians President and GM and current Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro, who was involved with Korn Ferry at the time.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s going to cut off some candidates that I think are worthy of an interview,” one of the NL executives said, citing Yankees special assistant Marc DelPiano and Blue Jays senior VP of player personnel Tony Lacava as non-traditional candidates the firm might overlook.

The cost of hiring Korn Ferry is unknown and is likely to stay that way given how skittish teams usually are to disclose much about this process.

Those contacted to speak on the Pirates’ ongoing GM search also saw no problem with the timing of everything, assuming the club doesn’t have anyone in place by next week’s GM meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“They have to make a really good decision here,” one American League scout said. “I don’t think that should be rushed.”

Hiring a search firm is one way of doing that. It’s also a smart commitment by the Pirates, especially now, to show their fans they want to do this right.

Now they need to go out and actually do it and find the right candidate for the job.

“Bob Nutting didn’t become a wealthy, wealthy man and put himself in position to purchase a Major League [Baseball] team by not being smart with his financial decisions,” one NL executive said. “Sometimes I think these search firms like Korn Ferry, it’s a step in the right direction toward getting the decision right.”

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published: November 6, 2019, 7:28 p.m.

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