There might not be as large an influx of Cleveland Indians personnel into the Pirates' organization as was originally thought.

In fact, that influx could begin -- and end -- with general manager Neal Huntington.

"At the end of the day, I would not be shocked if I took nobody from Cleveland," Huntington said yesterday.

Of course, Huntington could wind up with a few Cleveland people, but nothing is etched in stone.

"I would have a hard time taking too many from Cleveland," Huntington said. "But I would have a hard time taking too many from any organization. I'm not sure that's the way to go."

Already, Huntington has learned from the Indians that he can't have Dave Malpass, a highly respected scout who might have been considered for the Pirates' vacant scouting director or minor-league director positions.

Another reason Huntington probably won't bring a lot of people from Cleveland is baseball frowns on that.

This goes back to the early 1990s when Dave Dombrowski, then with Montreal, was named general manager of the Florida Marlins after the 1991 season.

Dombrowski helped fill the Marlins' organization with eight to 10 Expos people. Baseball did not want that to happen again.

Huntington is familiar with that incident because he went to work for the Expos in 1992 when a lot of people were coming and going -- mostly going.

That could impact Cleveland third-base coach Joel Skinner coming to the Pirates as their new manager. Before joining the major-league team, Skinner was a highly successful manager in the Cleveland minor-league system.

Torey Lovullo, who has managed Class AAA Buffalo, N.Y., in the Cleveland system, could be considered for the Pirates' manager's job. However, it's believed at this early juncture there is no top candidate.

Huntington indicated one or two current Pirates employees could wind up receiving "a conversation" about the manager's position.

"I've gotten a lot of positive feedback internally and externally about a couple people," Huntington said.

Trent Jewett, who manages Class AAA Indianapolis, probably is at the top of that list.

One person who doesn't consider himself a candidate is former Pirates pitcher and current radio/television analyst Bob Walk.

"I don't know anything about that," said Walk, who did interview for the manager's job after the 2000 season. "That's just the usual fan speculation. I would be drop-dead shocked if Neal Huntington wanted to talk to me about it."

Coming back?

There was growing speculation yesterday that Chuck Tanner, who managed the Pirates to the 1979 World Series championship, could be one of Huntington's first hires. Tanner would come aboard in the role of senior adviser.

Making a move

Jeff Cox, who coached third base for the Pirates the past two seasons, likely will be named to the same position with the Chicago White Sox, who fired third base coach Razor Shines Friday.

Clemente Award winner

Second baseman Freddy Sanchez won the Roberto Clemente award, given by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America to the player it thinks was the team's Most Valuable Player. Sanchez, who also won the award last year, is the first repeat winner since Brian Giles in 1999-2000. Sanchez received six first-place votes. Left-hander Tom Gorzelanny got the other three.