The Pittsburgh Pirates will name John Russell the club's new manager Monday, major league sources said.
Looks like John Perrotto got it right.
I remain open-minded about Russell, who has an excellent reputation throughout baseball. I haven't liked some of the things he's said in interviews. But my concerns about his approach to in-game tactics are probably small potatoes at this point. Russell's most important job right now is to develop young players and put the right ones on the field, and if he does that, it won't matter how often he calls for a bunt. And, as Steve pointed out in the thread linked above, Russell may defer to Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly's preferred strategic approaches anyway.
So we'll see what happens. If Nyjer Morgan is the starting center fielder in April, I'll be upset, but for right now, I'll wait until I have more information to pass judgment on this move.
Thanks to Brian M.