The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the Pirates will name Jim Tracy manager today.
I really like Tracy, and wish circumstances had worked such that the Reds could have hired him. The paper reports that Tracy will make more than the $700,000 he was to receive from the Dodgers.
That said, I don’t know if anyone can get the Pirates into contention. They have very nice young pitching, but other than Jason Bay, there’s not much to work with. Among players with over 200 ABs, 2b Jose Castillo was second on the club with a .416 SLG.
Tracy’s back in the neighborhood, being a native of Hamilton, Ohio, and a baseball star at Marietta College.
I agree Bill. Even though I think that Narron earned consideration, everyone knew that Macha, Tracey and dare I say Trader Jack would be available shortly after the regular season ended. I don’t think that anyone was beating down Narron’s door to offer him a manager’s job. OB had his mind made up. There’s no doubt about that. The Reds may have ended up offering Narron the job after all, but I don’t see why the organization had to be in such a hurry. They may have had a better candidate.