Sunday, November 21, 2010

Pirates Start Building A Staff

Dejan Kovacevic wrote today that the Pirates will soon announce the hiring of four coaches for Clint Hurdle's staff: Ray Searage, 55, as pitching coach, Gregg Ritchie, 46, as hitting coach, Jeff Banister, 45, as third base coach and Nick Leyva, 57, as bench coach.

Searage and Banister are holdovers, and Ritchie was the Pirate minor-league hitting coordinator for the past three seasons. Leyva was the Blue Jay's bench coach under Cito Gaston and became available when John Farrell took over the coaching reins.

Hurdle is still looking for a first base and bullpen coach; Kovacevic believes they'll come from outside the organization. If so, that means the end of the PNC road for Don Long (batting coach), Carlos Garcia (first base coach), Tony Beasley (third base coach) and Luis Dorante (bullpen coach).

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