The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced that the Club has extended the contracts of Executive Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington and Field Manager Clint Hurdle for four years through the 2021 season. The announcement was made by Pirates President Frank Coonelly.
"I am extremely pleased to be able to announce that Neal and Clint will continue to be Pirates for at least the next four years. Both men are selfless leaders who have made us a far stronger organization, both on and off the field," said Coonelly. "Neal and Clint have embraced the challenge of building a winner in Pittsburgh and have been critical to the success that we have had here to date. We have much work to do to reach the heights that our fans deserve. I am excited to continue to work with Neal and Clint to help bring a World Series championship back to Pittsburgh."
"I am enthusiastic to have both Neal and Clint continuing to lead our baseball operations," Pirates Chairman Bob Nutting said. "While we all know that there is still much work to be done and goals to accomplish, we have made a tremendous amount of progress under their tenures. I believe that Neal and Clint continue to be the right leaders to push us forward in our goal of bringing Postseason baseball back to Pittsburgh."
Huntington was named the Club's General Manager on September 25, 2007. Under his leadership and guidance, he has helped the Pirates develop into a consistent contender by posting the fifth-best record (424-361; .540) in all of Major League Baseball since the beginning of the 2013 campaign, trailing only the Dodgers (461-324; .587), Cardinals (443-342; .564), Nationals (443-342; .564) and Indians (433-350; .553).
Pittsburgh reached the postseason for three straight seasons from 2013-15 while Huntington and his staff were recognized by Baseball America with the Organization-of-the-Year award in 2015. The 48-year-old Huntington is the second-longest tenured General Manager in team history behind Joe L. Brown, who served the Club as its G.M. for a total of 22 years (1956-1976, 1985).
"I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to work for and with such a quality group of professionals," Huntington said. "We recognize that we have unfinished business. We remain committed to doing everything in our power to accomplish our organizational goals and to return a World Series championship to Pittsburgh."
Hurdle has guided the Pirates to a 575-534-1 record in seven seasons since being named the team's 39th manager on November 15, 2010. He ranks fifth all-time in Pirates history in wins, trailing only Fred Clarke (1422), Danny Murtaugh (1115), Jim Leyland (851) and Chuck Tanner (711). He also ranks sixth among all active managers with a total of 1,109 wins. The 60-year-old Hurdle is one of three managers in Pirates history to lead the team to the postseason in three consecutive seasons (2013-15) along with Fred Clarke (1901-03) and Jim Leyland (1990-92).