Pirates Identify Manager Candidates

With the Oakland Athletics now out of the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Pirates are expected to include A’s bench coach Ken Macha--a one-time Pirate player--on their short list of managerial candidates.

Pirate owner Kevin McClatchy and General Manager Cam Bonifay will begin interviewing candidates later this week to succeed Gene Lamont, fired Oct. 2 after a fourth successive losing season.

The Pirates are coming off an eighth consecutive losing season, their longest such streak in more than 40 years, and they want to hire a manager who not only can perform a turnaround but can help sell tickets to new PNC Park.

Bonifay spent last week forming a list of candidates he and McClatchy will interview. The list includes several minority candidates--a prerequisite set down by commissioner Bud Selig as mandatory for any such search. The list:

* Macha, 49, a Pittsburgh native and Pitt graduate who played for the Pirates in 1974, 1977 and 1978 in a six-year career before becoming a coach with Montreal, the Angels and, the last two seasons, with Oakland.

* Buck Showalter, a successful manager with the Yankees and Diamondbacks who was fired after Arizona fell out of the NL West race this season.

* Willie Randolph. He has been a Yankee coach for seven years but has no managerial experience in the majors or minors.

* Hal McRae, the former Kansas City Royals’ manager. He was the Phillies’ hitting coach the last four years.

* Terry Francona, recently fired as Phillies’ manager.

* Lloyd McClendon, the Pirates’ hitting coach.

* Tommy Sandt, the Pirates’ first-base coach.

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Boston Chief Executive John Harrington said that since he announced the Red Sox were being put up for sale by the Yawkey Trust, the team’s majority general partner since 1987, he’s heard from more than 30 potential buyers and expects more inquiries, the Boston Globe reported. He wouldn’t identify any of the potential bidders.