Pirates fire coaches Kerrigan, Varsho
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The Pirates this morning fired pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and bench coach Gary Varsho, moves initiated by manager John Russell and approved by general manager Neal Huntington.
"I made the call," Russell said.
Kerrigan will be replaced by Ray Searage, who had been the assistant pitching coach, and Varsho will be replaced by Jeff Banister, who had been the minor-league field coordinator.
"It was a very gut-wrenching decision," Russell said. "There are some issues I've been working through for quite some time now that could not be resolved in a way I felt would be for the betterment of this organization. I respect both men greatly. I lost two friends today. That's tough to deal with. But my main focus is this team, this organization, and I felt moving forward that this was the time to do this. With two months left in the season, I wanted to accomplish something this year moving into next year."
Russell was asked if those "issues" were related to baseball or loyalty.
"Just some issues that I felt we needed to change," he said. "Things I tried to work through. I'm not going to go into details out of respect of those two men. I'm just going to leave it at that."
Huntington stood with Russell as Russell spoke.
"Both Gary and Joe are quality baseball men who have worked hard during their time with the organization," Huntington said. "However, JR felt strongly, and I agreed, that they were no longer the right fit for our staff and a change at this time was in the best interest of the club."
Kerrigan oversaw some of the worst starting pitching in franchise history, with the rotation a combined 21-58 with a 5.38 ERA, both figures the second-worst in Major League Baseball, better only than the Baltimore Orioles. He also oversaw clear regressions with two of the Pirates' most important young pitchers, Charlie Morton and Brad Lincoln, both now back with Class AAA Indianapolis after failed stints in Pittsburgh.
In the case of Lincoln, Huntington cited at the time of his demotion July 25 "some mechanical changes at the major-league level" as being responsible for a drop in velocity.
There also is a feeling among some in the clubhouse that there were issues of loyalty to Russell, though no one would discuss that for the record.
Searage, 55, has spent 33 years in professional baseball, the past eight rising through the Pirates' system. He was promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis to Pittsburgh this past offseason to get what management described as on-the-job training as Kerrigan's assistant. Most of his work came in the bullpen.
First Published August 8, 2010 9:42 am
