BRADENTON, Fla. — With manager Clint Hurdle and general manager Neal Huntington in the final guaranteed year of their contracts, Pirates owner Bob Nutting praised the stability they’ve brought to the organization’s leadership but said contract extensions currently are not a top priority.
Extending Huntington and Hurdle, Nutting said Monday at Pirate City, “is not something that’s top-of-mind for me. It’s not an issue at this point. But they are tremendous talents who I love.”
Huntington, and Hurdle are signed through this season with club options for 2018. The current contracts — three years plus a club option — were announced April 5, 2014, at which point Huntington had a year and an option remaining, and Hurdle had seen his 2014 option picked up and a 2015 option added. The timing now is similar, with one guaranteed year left on their deals.
Hurdle, 59, has a 509-462 record in six seasons with the Pirates. He was hired as manager Nov. 14, 2010, less than 18 months after being fired by the Colorado Rockies. Under Hurdle, the Pirates have made three postseason appearances — each began with a wild-card game.
When Hurdle was asked Monday whether a contract extension was a back-burner item for him, too, the manager replied: “I don’t even have a burner. I’m taking care of today. I like where I’m at. I love the organization. I’m humbled to get the opportunity to do it. It’ll get figured out.”
Huntington, 48, joined the Pirates Sept. 25, 2007, as the successor to general manager Dave Littlefield. He spent the previous 16 years in the Montreal and Cleveland organizations. In a text message Monday, Huntington did not directly address extension talk but wrote, “My focus remains on doing my job to the best of my ability and working to bring playoff baseball back to Pittsburgh.”
A lesson drawn from longtime baseball executive John Schuerholz, Nutting said, is the importance of stability and “continuity with the right people” within an organization. Schuerholz, now with the Atlanta Braves, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame later this year.
“I would like to think part of the goal of stability is it allows someone to make good, long-term decisions in the best interests of the club, without any of the overhang of concern over where they might be,” Nutting said. “You simply work more effectively when you’re focused on what you need to focus on than if you’re distracted by, ‘I wonder where I stand.’
“We have a very solid, cohesive leadership team here with the Pirates. It’s one of the things I’ve believed in with all of our businesses — you need solid leaders who know they have real support.”
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com
First Published: February 20, 2017, 9:33 p.m.
Updated: February 21, 2017, 4:38 a.m.
