There’ve been a few news items on Pirates’ staffing matters in the last couple days.
Jason Mackey is reporting that the Pirates’ search for a farm director is nearing an end and that sources tell him the frontrunner is John Baker. A former catcher who played with three major league teams, Baker hired on with the Cubs as a baseball operations assistant in 2015. He’s in his fourth season as Chicago’s mental skills coordinator. And, no, I have no idea what that is.
Also from Mackey, Dave Turgeon is no longer with the Pirates. Starting in 2015, Turgeon served as the Pirates’ coordinator of instruction. This year, he was supposed to manage Altoona, but that didn’t happen. This obviously is another sign that the restructuring of the minor league staff is accelerating.
Finally, it appears that Alex Cora will return to manage the Red Sox. In keeping with MLB’s very, very serious concerns about the integrity of the game, the Tigers earlier hired A.J. Hinch. Pirates’ bench coach Don Kelly was under consideration for both jobs, but honest guys finish last.
