As you know, the Pirates have interviewed former Brewers and A's manager Ken Macha for their manager job. I asked Kyle Lobner from Brew Crew Ball to give the skinny on Macha, and here's what he had to say. I imagine you're going to see some similarities to John Russell here.
An on-field strategist, Ken Macha probably isn't better or worse than most managers out there. He'll make the occasional headscratcher decision regarding lineups and he'll play favorites a bit, but no worse than most others. He's actually probably a little more willing than most to tinker with things and try to find an alignment that works. He'll also run a handful of bullpen guys into the ground while others go unused for weeks at a time, but that by itself wasn't a fireable offense.
What really got Macha in trouble was his personality (or lack thereof) and his inability at times to communicate effectively with his players. Macha will rarely argue calls or get ejected from games, and at times it was reported that the players didn't feel like he had their back when they needed him. The Brewers also led the league in hit by pitches this season (Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks almost reached 50 by themselves) but rarely retaliated. Macha's strained relationship with two of his highest-profile stars (Fielder and Ryan Braun) was widely reported. Macha went out of his way to stress his "open door" policy, but it was clear that a large portion of the team wasn't interested in using it.
Macha was brought in to be the "proven winner" that stabilized a relatively young Brewer team. In reality, though, the team was just as streaky (or maybe a little worse) with Macha as they were under Ned Yost.
All told, if given a team with the right mix of personalities and talent where he could just stay out of the way and let them perform, Macha could probably be successful. I'm not sure he's the right guy to handle the quirks and growing pains of a young team, though.