Pirates fire manager Tracy

PITTSBURGH -- When the Pittsburgh Pirates last fired a manager this quickly, he couldn’t get his team into the World Series. Jim Tracy was let go because he didn’t produce anything resembling a winning season.

Tracy was ousted Friday after two years filled with long losing streaks and little discernible progress by a team that has had 15 consecutive losing seasons, one short of the major league record.

The Pirates also fired three other baseball operations executives during an ongoing shakeup that began last month with general manager Dave Littlefield’s firing. Also fired were senior director of player development Brian Graham, scouting director Ed Creech and director of baseball operations Jon Mercurio.