I'm not sure what I should say about this, but here you go:
The Pirates, sources said, have made a strong push within the past 48 hours to ensure that Hurdle will be their next manager.
"It’s moving forward at a rapid pace," one source said.
One potential issue is length of contract. Pirates general manager Neal Huntington has only one year left on his deal. It is not known whether the Pirates intend sign a manager for longer than that.
"A strong push"? What does that mean? The Pirates promised Hurdle more money? Took him out to dinner? Poked him on Facebook? What? Hammer over at OnlyBucs nails it (so to speak):
This offseason, I've read a ton of baseball articles and this year seems to be taking the cake as it relates to making a claim about some kind of rumor without really explaining the full story. Sure would have been nice for guys like Jon Heyman or Ken Rosenthal to write the Pirates are making a formal offer for x years, x amount of money and the offer expires on a certain date and time.
I know these guys are unlikely to have the specifics of the money and years or even a drop dead date but the general theme sure would have been nice.
Yeah. I can't remember ever hearing this much innuendo masquerading as news. The Pirates want Hurdle to be their manager. That's clear, and everyone who has been following the situation already knew that. The idea that they're making a "push" doesn't really say a whole lot.
UPDATE: John Perrotto says the Pirates will hire Hurdle if they can agree on a contract.
UPDATE 11:48 AM: John Perrotto now writes that, contrary to what we've heard before, Hurdle actually would rather manage the Pirates than the Mets and that Hurdle and the Pirates are working on a deal. One problem is that Neal Huntington's contract expires at the end of this year, but Hurdle wants a longer contract than that.