Pirates hire Bill Livesey as advisor to GM Neal Huntington
By Matt Shetler
While Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting made it clear this week that the team’s front office would remain intact, he didn’t say anything about additions to the front office.
Today the team announced that they have hired Bill Livesey to be a senior advisor to general manager Neal Huntington.
Livesey most recently was a professional scout with the New York Yankees from 2008-2011 and before that spent three seasons as a special assistant in the New York Mets’ front office.
Livesey’s resume is impressive, having spent 18 years with the Yankees from 1978-1995 while being involved in all phases of player development and scouting. During his final four years in the Bronx, he served as VP of player development before being hired as special assistant to the general manager by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in September 2005.
He then became Tampa Bay’s director of player personnel and also spent two years as a special assistant to Toronto Blue Jays’ general manager J.P. Ricciardi.
Livesey also has some ties to the Pirates as his son Jeff was the minor-league hitting coordinator the last two seasons; the younger Livesey has been in the organization for 10 years.
The hiring is interesting just for the fact that it makes you wonder exactly how short Huntington’s leash is. Livesey would seem like a qualified enough candidate to take over, at least on a short-term basis.