Jim Colborn	Jim Lett
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The Pirates yesterday announced officially that Jim Colborn and Jim Lett will be coaches on manager Jim Tracy's staff.

The only news in the announcement is that Lett will be Tracy's bench coach.

It had been known for three weeks that Colborn, the pitching coach, and Lett would accompany Tracy to the Pirates from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lett was either going to be the third base coach or the bench coach.

The rest of the news concerning Tracy's staff could be forthcoming within the next few days.

"We're very close to having this puzzle completed," Tracy said.

Tracy still must appoint a first base coach -- John Shelby from his Dodgers staff is a strong possibility for that job -- a third base coach, a hitting coach and a bullpen coach.

One of those jobs could be filled by a member of the previous coaching staff.

"I will not rule that out," Tracy said.

One possible candidate for one of those jobs is Pete Mackanin, who was the interim manager after Lloyd McClendon was fired Sept. 6. Mackanin has coached third base for four years in the majors.

Glenn Hoffman, a member of Tracy's Dodgers staff, also is a possibility for the third base coach position. Hoffman interviewed Monday with the San Diego Padres for their vacant third base coaching job.

Colborn, 59, was Tracy's pitching coach for each of his five seasons as the Dodgers' manager. Under Colborn's watch, the Dodgers ranked among the top four in the National League in earned run average in three of the past four seasons, including a major league-best 3.16 mark in 2003. That staff threw 17 shutouts.

Colborn pitched in the major leagues for 10 years, compiling an 83-88 record, 60 complete games and a 3.80 earned run average with the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, Kansas City and Seattle.

With the Brewers in 1973, he pitched a club-record 314 1/3 innings and was 20-12 with a 3.18 earned run average and 22 complete games -- or 18 more than the Pirates had in 2005. During an 18-14 season with Kansas City in 1977, he threw a no-hitter against Texas.

"He has a real keen sense of watching a guy's mechanics," Lett said. "He can tell right off if the guy's a little out of sync. I guarantee you that he will help everybody on [the Pirates'] staff."

"He's very intriguing," Tracy said. "In my opinion, Jim Colborn is one of the brighter pitching coaches in baseball today. He brings an awful lot to the table. He possesses a number of the attributes we need to move this thing forward much sooner than later.

"He's a tremendous teacher. And Kip Wells and Oliver Perez have a chance to take advantage of that immediately."

Colborn has a degree in sociology from Whittier College in California. He also attended the University of Washington and Edinburgh University in Scotland.

"He's very knowledgeable," Lett said. "He's been all over the world. He speaks Japanese. He's very intellectual."

Lett, 54, was the Dodgers' bench coach in 2005 after serving as the team's bullpen coach the previous four seasons.

Lett, who lives in Winfield, W.Va., and is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, has been in baseball for 32 years, including 23 with the Cincinnati Reds. He previously coached in the big leagues with Toronto and the Reds before going to Los Angeles.

"He's a very special well-kept secret," Tracy said. "He creates a tremendous amount of versatility for this staff. He's a real chip. There's not a job he can't do."

Lett has one other ability Tracy loves.

"He throws some of the best batting practice in either league," Tracy said.