Cradle to grave job security in Pittsburgh Pirates front office

6/19, Bill Madden: "Can it get any worse for Pittsburgh fans, who are suffering through what is certain to be the Pirates' 18th consecutive losing season? On Thursday, after the last-place Pirates lost their 10th consecutive game to fall to 23-43,

• team president Frank Coonelly revealed he had secretly extended the contracts of manager
• John Russell, who lost 95 and 99 games in his first two seasons at the helm,

• and GM Neal Huntington, through the 2011 seasons.

Said Russell, even more reassuringly to the Pirate fans: "This doesn't change anything. We're not going to change the way we're doing things."

• Then, as an addendum, Coonelly revealed that the Pirates elected not to have second baseman Akinori Iwamura - whom they designated for assignment with a .182 average on Wednesday -
• take a physical before acquiring him from the Rays in a winter trade,

• even though he was coming off major knee surgery.

Perhaps if Coonelly isn't willing to hold Huntington accountable for the Pirate mess, he should do the fans a favor and

• offer up himself as the real culprit."

from Madden's NY Daily News column 6/19, It's a Madd, Madd World, "Baseball undergoing major transition as young stars injecting new life into game"

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