Former Pirates general manager Neal Huntington has landed his first job back in baseball since his firing in October, 2019, joining the Cleveland Guardians’ front office as a special assistant to baseball projects.
This news comes via a report from Britt Ghiroli.
Huntington originally came to the Pirates from Cleveland, where he rose from assistant director of minor league operations to assistant general manager and special assistant to the general manager over a decade.
Huntington was hired in November of 2007 and spent a dozen seasons as the Pirates’ general manager. That included building a group that snapped a 20-year losing season streak and made three straight postseason appearances from 2013-2015, though they did not win the National League Central during that time.
However, his tenure ended on a sour note, with the team falling behind on player development and modern strategies over the past few seasons, culminating in a last place finish in 2019.
The last place finish also highlighted problems the Pirates had with their team culture, which has been one of the focal points for the new regime.
While it looked like he would initially keep his job following the second-half collapse, going as far as to begin the interview process to find a new field manager, but he was fired the same day the club announced that Travis Williams had been hired as the new team president.
Huntington still had two years remaining on his contract at the time of his firing, hence why he did not take another job since his firing.
Huntington was fired the same offseason as Clint Hurdle, who has a new position as a special assistant to the general manager with the Rockies.
Former team president Frank Coonelly returned to a position with Major League Baseball’s main office.
