General Manager Neal Huntington, along with Assistant Kyle Stark and Greg Smith will be retained for the 2013 season, according to Pirates President Frank Coonelly. Despite Pittsburgh seeing a second straight second-half collapse, the front office will remain intact. Stark and Smith were also recently criticized for the training methods they used in the Fall Instructional League this month.
Coonelly issued a statement on Wednesday.
“For the second consecutive year, we put ourselves in an excellent position to meet our objective of winning our division but did not play nearly well enough during the last two months of the season to accomplish it. Our fans are understandably disappointed and frustrated, as is every individual in the organization.”
“As soon as we finish this season as well as we possibly can, we will turn our full and total attention to evaluating why were unable to finish the job and what we must do differently to take the next step to becoming a championship team. There will unquestionably be changes made to the way in which we operate as a result of this thorough critical self-evaluation, but we will not be making personnel changes at the very top of our baseball operations department. Neal, Kyle, Greg and Clint are dedicated and intelligent baseball men in whom I have great confidence.”
“Confidence in and support of Neal, Kyle and Greg should not be misunderstood with acceptance of another poor finish at the Major League level. We must understand why the quality of our execution and play deteriorated so markedly in August. Finishing was the focus from spring training but it certainly was not achieved.”
