Sunday, November 4th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Pirates Will Hire Russell on Monday
Sources have leaked that the Pirates will hire John Russell to be their next manager, the first of the Neal Huntington/Frank Coonelly era. Russell was never reported as the front-runner for the job until now, partly because other candidates always seemed to have connections with Huntington. Much is already being made of the fact that Russell was fired as third base coach when Lloyd McClendon’s entire crew was shown the door. That staff, remember, was loaded with coaches who could have been managers including Russell and Pete Mackanin.
Russell has a pedigree as a minor league manager, being named Minor League Manager of the Year in 2002 and Best Double-A Managerial Prospect in 1999. He probably has skills handling players and dealing with young guys over the grind of the summer, but he has not had recent success. For instance, last year his AAA Ottawa Lynx finished 55-88. It seems like he may fit right in.
Russell was an awful third base coach who never seemed to make the right move. Hopefully he is a better manager. This is an example of a team waiting until a candidate is no longer The Hot Thing to hire him, which seems as if it is this rendition of the Pirates’ way of doing things (even though Huntington and Coonelly were hired before they could become hot). I am a little bit afraid that they are trying too hard to find diamonds in the rough at every single important position from Neal Huntington on down. Eventually, someone who has experienced success at the major league level must be brought in so that there is someone to say, “no, this is not how we should be doing this” or “yes, that’s the right way.”
In the end, Russell may have been the best candidate that Huntington interviewed. The other four were certainly lacking in one respect or another. I would not be surprised to see Huntington announce that Dave Jauss is being hired as Scouting Director simultaneously with the announcement of Russell as manager. Jauss has been rumored for the position and he was the only candidate who had not confirmed that he was not the man (outside of Russell, of course).
I don’t really know enough to make a solid judgment right now as Russell was completely off of my radar, so anything that I write about him in the coming days will be what I can uncover. It seems as if he will force any team he is in charge of to play to its talent level, though, no better and no worse.
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