Report: Pirates Pick Neal Huntington to Be GM - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

After settling on Frank Coonelly to be the new COO last week, the Pirates appear to be on the verge of announcing a new general manager: Neal Huntington, currently a special assistant to Indians GM Mark Shapiro.

Huntington's name is a bit of a surprise, even among those who have been closely following the search. The Pirates have been tight-lipped about the entire process, but no one even knew Huntington was in the running until the Beaver County Times reported as much this afternoon:

Huntington is considered one of the bright young minds in the game but there had been no inkling before Thursday that he was even under consideration to join the Pirates as a replacement for Dave Littlefield, who was fired Sept. 7 after a little more than six years as GM.

The Pirates have declined comment throughout the process and have also forbidden any candidates from speaking with the media.

An official announcement is expected to come during a press conference on Monday. Huntington, 37, got his start in baseball working with the Expos in 1995 but has spent the last 12 years working with the Indians. He's considered part of the "new guard" of baseball executives, the under-40 crowd who a generation ago might have been an accountant or a college professor instead of someone calling the shots for an MLB team. Will he be successful like Theo Epstein or have a short-lived career like Tim Purpura? Time will tell.