Pirates Neal Huntington, Clint Hurdle Contracts Extended

After a 94 win season and postseason berth, Pittsburgh Pirates majority owner Bob Nutting got around to announcing what everyone knew was coming.  Clint Hurdle and Neal Huntington agreed to new contracts that will have them in Pittsburgh through 2017 at the least.    The deal also has a club option for the 2018 season.

Hurdle has won the hearts of the Pittsburgh faithful.  The Bucs skipper has won 248 games against 242 losses since coming to Pittsburgh.  The outspoken Hurdle was quoted as saying, “there’s no place I’d rather be,” before the game tonight.  We didn’t see any announcement regarding financial terms given to Hurdle and Huntington.

It took quite a while for Huntington to be accepted as the Bucs GM.  Fans still point to the fact that he has just one winning season since becoming captain of the unstable Pirates ship six years ago.

Clint Hurdle Pittsburgh Pirates skipper

The National League MVP called the announcement a relief in an ESPN article.

"“We’ve had managers in the past, they were here and they were gone,” McCutchen said. “We have someone here that’s going to be here and don’t have to worry about him leaving or going somewhere else. That’s the change in the team with the success that we’ve had the past couple years and just doing better on improving.”"

Congrats to both men on bringing smiles back to the faces of Pirates fans.  Regardless of your opinion about either gentleman, after the 2013 season it’s hard to argue with Nutting’s decision.