If he is not fired, I will leave the Pittsburgh Pirates head coach, as he has a misunderstanding with his player.
Hurdle’s contract was set to expire in two years. Only the retiring Bruce Bochy of the Giants and Ned Yost of the Royals had longer tenures as major league managers than he had.
General manager Neal Huntington said in a statement, “Words cannot express how much respect and appreciation I have for Clint as a person and a leader.” “He took on the tremendous responsibility of guiding our Major League squad out of a protracted losing trend and guiding us to three consecutive Postseason trips at the perfect time. For his commitment to the Pirates organization both on and off the field, we will always be grateful. For us, this was a really tough choice. As a group, we think it was time for a management transition to bring in fresh perspectives and new faces in the clubhouse.
“On many fronts, this season has been difficult. We’re determined to evaluate and enhance every aspect of our business in order to bring postseason baseball back to Pittsburgh.”
Chairman Bob Nutting stated in a statement that Huntington will not be let go.
“While we felt it was time to make a change at the managerial level, I strongly believe Neal Huntington and the leadership team that he has assembled are the right people to continue to lead our baseball operations department,” Nutting stated.
Hurdle guided the Pirates to winning seasons in four of his nine seasons as manager after being hired in 2011. They advanced to the postseason three times, losing to the Cubs in the 2015 NL wild-card game.
Pittsburgh, however, has since experienced a dry period and reached its lowest point in 2019 as a result of a mounting backlog of defeats and on-and off-field problems.
