Pirates fire GM Huntington, name Williams team president

The Pittsburgh Pirates' front-office purge continued Monday with the firing of general manager Neal Huntington. After a last-place division finish (69-93) and a fourth straight year missing the postseason, Pittsburgh had already terminated manager Clint Hurdle on Sept. 29 and team president Frank Coonelly last week.

Chairman of the board of the Pirates Bob Nutting announced Monday that Travis Williams, former COO of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was named the president. Williams will lead the search for a general manager and oversee the team's managerial search. Nutting said the search to date is now on pause, including any candidates who met with the previous team brass. "I greatly appreciate Neal's dedication to the Pirates organization and our city over the past 12 seasons. His time with the Pirates should always be remembered for ending a long stretch of futility and bringing Postseason baseball back to Pittsburgh," Nutting said. "This past season was by far the most frustrating and challenging season that I have experienced as owner. It became clear to me as the season progressed that significant change was necessary in order to refresh our entire operations."

The Pirates were 44-45 and just 2 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central on July 7, but went 25-48 after the All-Star break. Huntington, 50, had served in the position since September 2007 and had two years remaining on his contract.

During his 12 seasons as GM, the Pirates posted four winning seasons and made three straight playoff appearances from 2013-15. "It was critical that we have our new team president in place to conduct the search for the next leader of our baseball operations department. With the naming of Travis Williams to the position of the president today, we will immediately begin the search process. I am confident that we will find the right person," Nutting said. "While we will pause the managerial search process for the time being, we are appreciative of the work that has been done thus far and confident in the candidates available to us. The hiring of a new general manager will only help clarify the situation further for those candidates."

The Pirates also fired pitching coach Ray Searage and bench coach Tom Prince after the season. 

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