Bob Nutting told the press on Tuesday that the Pirates will keep Neal Huntington and the rest of their front office. The Bucs' front office has been under fire for a second straight collapse down the stretch in 2012, and for having prospects do military-style drills. Nutting explains why he decided not to fire anyone:
"We will not ever, nor should we ever, fall back on scapegoats," Nutting said. "I will continue to be willing to make changes in personnel when appropriate and necessary. But in anger at the end of a season is the wrong time to judge someone’s body of work and make decisions."
Nutting is saying, essentially, that he doesn't want to be the sort of meddlesome owner -- think of the Orioles' Peter Angelos -- who inserts himself into team operations and just makes things worse. I think Huntington probably should have been fired, not for the military drills that have gotten so much attention recently, but because the Bucs haven't gotten enough out of their massively expensive and important 2008-2011 drafts. But I can certainly appreciate Nutting's point of view. It would be a very good point of view to have if the Pirates really had the best baseball people in place. Unfortunately, I'm not sure they do.