Diamondbacks hire Pirates analyst Mike Fitzgerald

The Diamondbacks have hired Mike Fitzgerald from the Pirates to be their director of analytics, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes.

Many Pirates fans probably don't know who Mike Fitzgerald is, but the loss is a significant one. Fitzgerald worked with Dan Fox in Pittsburgh and attracted some notice for actually traveling with the team, helping integrate the Pirates' sabermetric findings with their on-field strategy. He also was reportedly one of the driving forces behind the Bucs' signing of Russell Martin, which turned out brilliantly.

By the way, another recent Pirates employee just moved into another team's front office -- former infielder Cole Figueroa has taken a position as a baseball development assistant with the Rays, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Figueroa briefly played for the Bucs this season before briefly veering into the Dodgers and Marlins organizations and ending the year as a free agent. It has to be rare for a 29-year-old who's played in the majors so recently to take a front office job, but everything I've ever read about the analytical Figueroa suggests that, if he doesn't want to continue on the diamond, a front office is probably a good place for him.