Pittsburgh Pirates Add Superscout As Senior Advisor To Neal Huntington

Bill Livesey was hired as Senior Advisor to GM today by the Pittsburgh Pirate. Image from The Shea Hot Corner

The Pittsburgh Pirates are making moves.  Guess whose quote this is?

"”I learned there that in this day and age, you have to have a core group of your own players,” said Livesey, who was hired by the Mets after Bill Singer was fired for making racially insensitive comments to a Los Angeles Dodgers executive. ”We don’t just want to build a championship team, because that can go away. We want to build a championship organization. That’s the job here.”"

No, it’s not anyone from the Buccos management team.  It’s from the newest Bucco team member.    And it makes a lot of sense, especially when you hear the guys background.

The team announced that Bill Livesey has been hired as a Senior Advisor to the General Manager.   It’s a position that you might recall once was manned by none other than Chuck Tanner.

Do these men help or hurt?  Livesey is widely considered to be a smart, smart guy.  A well respected man within the game.

Livesey is 72 years old and was a Pro Scout with the New York Yankees since 2008.  Before that he spent three seasons as a Special Assistant to the General Manager with the New York Mets.

Livesey somehow survived 18 years with the Yankees from 1978 to 1995 and was involved in all phases of player development and scouting.   The guy has to be doing something right to be with the Bombers that long.  He spent his last four years with the Yankees as their Vice President of Player Development and Scouting.

He then was hired by the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays as a Special Assistant the General Manager on September 25, 1995. He was also Tampa Bay’s Director of Player Personnel.

Livesey was exactly the talent we spoke about the team needing to stockpile within their baseball operations.

A guy that has signed Fred McGriff, Willie McGee, Jose Rijo and Greg Gagne is always good to have around the club.  When he rolled to start the expansion Rays, he left behind Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte who became household names for the Yankees.

One of the key elements of his background from the Bucs press release above is this one for us:  After leaving the Yankees, he worked for the Tampa BayRays from 98 to 2001.   He then was grabbed by the Blue Jays and was a special assistant before joining the Mets.

He’s been everywhere.  He’s been called a superscout by the New York Times.  And he wears a 1978 Yankees World Series ring.

That shouldn’t be a bad thing.  Let’s Go Bucs.