When Frank Coonelly was introduced as the Pirates' new president 11 days ago, he was emphatic on a number of topics -- including responsibility for the team's manager.

"The general manager has to hire the manager," Coonelly said.

Now that the Pirates have a general manager -- Neal Huntington -- will that new GM fire or retain Jim Tracy, who has a year left on his contract?

"For me to speculate on any one individual or any personnel moves or any staff changes or any player changes, I'm not ready or equipped to do that," Huntington said. "We're going to tirelessly gather information. We will thoroughly and fairly evaluate our personnel and how we've done things.

"During this evaluation process, I will pledge that I will be respectful, that I will be graceful and that I will do it in a timely manner."

"Timely" probably means shortly.

As with other moves the Pirates made this year, Tracy's fate already could have been decided.

There's some thought that chairman of the board Bob Nutting's decision to hire Coonelly -- out of the commissioner's office -- was made well before Coonelly was announced.

Huntington, 38, didn't seem to be on any team's radar relative to being a general manager, but here he is.

It's conceivable that Coonelly had him in mind well before several days ago. They did have a working relationship some years ago when Coonelly was in the commissioner's office helping clubs with salary arbitration cases.

"I had a hunch [about Huntington] -- absolutely I had a hunch," Coonelly said. "I was extraordinarily impressed with the intelligence, the analytic ability [and] the leadership qualities that Neal possessed when I worked with him."

And so perhaps Coonelly and Huntington have "a hunch" about Tracy, too.

Speculation already has arisen about the Pirates' manager. Cleveland Indians third base coach Joel Skinner, who has had interviews for managerial jobs in the past, might be a possibility. Tracy met with Coonelly and Huntington yesterday afternoon.

"He's a very thorough guy," Tracy said. "He does his homework. He's very analytical. He's worked in an organization where he understands what young talent is all about and does for you if nurtured correctly. He gets it."

Huntington, who most recently was a major-league scout for the Indians, said he will remain in Pittsburgh throughout the Pirates' final homestand and through next week, too.

By the end of next week, a lot of decisions likely will have been made, including the possible naming of Brian Graham, the Pirates' player development director, as Huntington's assistant.

Graham and Huntington worked together in Cleveland's minor-league system in the late 1990s. Graham was Huntington's superior in that department for a year before Huntington took over as player personnel director, a job he held for three years. Subsequently, Huntington was an assistant to Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro for three years before being named a special assistant to the general manager.

That appointment was viewed in the industry as a demotion as Chris Antonetti's star rose. Antonetti clearly is Shapiro's right-hand man now.

"Mark had two executives in his very close circle with different skill-sets, different passions and different complementary abilities for Mark," Huntington said yesterday. "My passion, my skill-set, my strengths were on the baseball side.

"As we talked about how to go forward, there clearly was the opportunity for me to jump out and be a primary [talent] evaluator for Mark -- to get back into a job I truly love. I'm in this for the baseball. I'm not in this to be an administrator. I'm in this to be a baseball guy.

"Chris became a perfect complement for Mark in the office. He's an outstanding executive. I became a perfect complement for Mark out in the field as an evaluator and as an adviser. I never lost any role in terms of strategic planning."

Coonelly said he wasn't bothered at all by what appeared to be a change in Huntington's influence in the Cleveland front office.

"One of the people I respect in the game as much as anybody else is Mark Shapiro," Coonelly said. "[The Indians] have developed a system of mentoring executives that's second to none in the game.

"Mark's endorsement of Neal could not have been stronger. I had no concerns. I understood the circumstances. Mark assured me Neal had all the abilities and attributes to be successful.

"It had to be a baseball guy. And an outstanding baseball evaluator."

Huntington's evaluation skills draw mixed reviews among industry sources. One long-time scout said yesterday: "You don't want me to talk about that."

But Coonelly said: "I thought we needed someone who understood the importance of the evaluation of baseball talent and also understood the analytical tools and knew how to implement the analytical tools."

"I was convinced we needed to have in Pittsburgh a general manager who had a vision of success here, who could change the culture here, which, unfortunately, is non-winning baseball. A person who could create a culture of success and excellence. That person also needed to be a strong leader of people and have a passion for winning."