Frank Coonelly's 12-year run as president of the Pittsburgh Pirates is over after another losing season.
The club pronounced Wednesday that it is parting ways with Coonelly effective immediately. The team said Coonelly's replacement will be introduced on Monday.
He helped oversee a brief renaissance that resulted in three straight playoff berths from 2013-15.
Coonelly said he understood that ''change was necessary'' following a stunning second-half collapse in which the Pirates went 25-48 and plummeted to last in the NL Central. The team dismissed manager Clint Hurdle on the final day of the regular season.
''Frank and I both agreed that it was clear a change in the day-to-day leadership of the club is needed,'' Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. ''This leadership transition gives us the opportunity to refresh our entire operations.''
The Pirates have fallen off the pace in recent years, finishing below .500 in three of the last four seasons.
The freefall contained a number of off-the-field incidents this season, including the arrest of All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez on felony charges relating to an improper sexual relationship with an underage girl.
Relievers Keone Kela and Kyle Crick were suspended after heated arguments with staff members.
Under Coonelly and Huntington, the Pirates gradually build a winner and 2013 ended the team's long playoff drought. The Pirates also made the postseason in 2014 and as a 98-win team in 2015 but were knocked out in the wild-card round each time.
Since that run, however, the Pirates have fallen on hard times, as they've recorded losing seasons in three of the last four years and in 2019 endured 93 losses and a last-place finish in the NL Central. As well, this past season just the Marlins among NL clubs averaged lower per-game home attendance. Our own R.J. Anderson this past February wrote of the increasing frustrations of Pirates fans in the face of ownership's unwillingness to invest in the team on the field.
