Three Candidates Emerge In The Pittsburgh Pirates Search For A New GM

As the Pittsburgh Pirates begin their search for a new general manager three names have already emerged as candidates

In case you were living under a rock and missed it, on Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates dismissed long time general manager Neal Huntington. After 12 years as the team’s GM, Huntington’s tenure ended after the team missed the postseason in four consecutive seasons, posting a losing record in three of these four seasons.

This came on the same day that the team officially introduced Travis Williams as their new president. With the team in need of a manager and the offseason truly set to kick off when the World Series ends, which could be as soon as tonight, Williams and owner Bob Nutting will now have to work quickly to hire a new general manager.

Well, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the there are already three candidates emerging.

As you can see above these three candidates are Tony LaCava, Marc DelPiano and Matt Arnold.

LaCava is a Pittsburgh native. The Pittsburgh Central Catholic native signed with the Pirates following the 1983 draft and spent two seasons in the team’s minor league system. After his playing career ended LaCava worked as a scout for the then California Angels, the national scouting supervisor for the Atlanta Braves, director of player development for the Montreal Expos, and in the Cleveland Indians front office.

LaCava now serves as the Toronto Blue Jays’ senior vice prescient and the head of player personnel. This comes after spending time as the team’s interim general manager in 2015. Overall, he has worked in Toronto’s front office since 2002.

DelPiano works in the front office for the New York Yankees. DelPiano formerly served as the vice president of player development for the Miami Marlins before being fired by Derek Jeter in January 2018.

Finally, there is Arnold. The 40-year-old Arnold is the best of this bunch. To be honest, even before these three names emerged as candidates Arnold was a name that immediately came to my mind as a great candidate to replace Huntington.

This past season was Arnold’s fifth with the Brewers. He serves as the team’s vice president and assistant general manager. Along with general manager David Stearns, Arnold has helped build one of baseball’s best run franchises in Milwaukee. Arnold has helped to build a team that wins through the draft, player development, strong trades, and spending wisely in free agency. All of these aspects are vital to a small market team like the Pirates competing.

Do not forget, Milwaukee is an even smaller market than Pittsburgh.