Pirates Coach Perry Hill Puts Pirates in the Rearview

Perry Hill will not be returning to the Pirates in 2010.  Also announced today was that AAA pitching coach Ray Searage has been promoted to ML coaching staff.

"“We made an aggressive attempt to bring Perry back, excercising his option and offering to restructure and extend his contract,” said Neal Huntington, ”despite these efforts, Perry has decided that he does not want to coach.”"

The Pirates also announced Saturday that Ray Searage will join the big league staff to work under pitching coach Joe Kerrigan. Searage has spent the past seven seasons coaching in the Pittsburgh organization, including the past two as the pitching coach at Triple-A Indianapolis. Searage, 54, broke into the big leagues with the Mets in 1981 and posted an 11-13 record and a 3.50 ERA in 254 appearances over seven seasons.

"“Ray brings years of experience to our big league staff,” said Huntington. “He not only has spent the last seven years working with the pitchers in our system, but he has over 30 years of experience as both a Major League pitcher and Minor League pitching coach. His knowledge of the game in general, and the way he has handled our pitchers coming through the system, will further strengthen our coaching staff at the big league level.”"

Unreal.  Sucks.  The offseason continues to depress me.  I was expecting the Hill announcement, but the Searage announcement was simply stunning.  Ok, back to football.

The Pirates website has the full story.

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