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Earlier today, MLB insider Jon Heyman tweeted that the Pittsburgh Pirates were to begin their search for a new general manager this week.
Pirates are getting started on GM interviews this week. They’d already interviewed several manager candidates so they won’t exactly be starting over once they have GM in place.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 3, 2019
It seems a bit peculiar that the Pirates will not completely restart their managerial search once a general manager is hired. Shouldn’t the new general manager have full control over the hiring of the new manager? Perhaps the new GM will be briefed on the previous managerial interviews? How that would work, I have no idea. In all honestly, I have no idea what the Pirates (mostly Bob Nutting) are even doing right now. This whole process has been odd and unorganized beginning with the firings of the previous regime.
Hopefully the Pirates find a person to lead their baseball operations sooner rather than later. If a manager were to be hired before the GM, I would be completely aghast. In the meantime, roster decisions are being made. The Pirates will reportedly pick up the club options of Starling Marte and Chris Archer.
In one sense, the Pirates don’t need to completely rush their search for a new GM. The free agent market moves extremely slowly and the Pirates are never too keen to add via that market anyways. They also will not be losing any impact players to free agency.
On the other hand, this organization desperately needs to find a sense of direction. Will the team tear things down in a rebuild? Will the player development department get a complete overhaul? Are there still more firings yet to come?
The Pirates are in a state of limbo at the moment. Hopefully in the coming weeks they find some answers.