Pirates hire Cuellar as bullpen coach

11/16/2005
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates continued the process of filling out their big league coaching staff Wednesday by adding Bobby Cuellar as the bullpen coach.
Cuellar, 53, was formerly a pitching coach with the Seattle Mariners (1995-96) and Montreal Expos (1997-2000). He spent the 2001 season as the bullpen coach with the Texas Rangers.
Cuellar also has extensive Minor League coaching experience. Following his brief big league career (four appearances with the Rangers in 1977), Cuellar spent 12 seasons in the Seattle Mariners farm system as a manager and coach. From 2002-05, he served as the pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins' Triple-A Rochester affiliate.
Cuellar worked with Pirates GM Dave Littlefield and manager Jim Tracy in the past when each was a member of the Expos organization in the late 1990's.
"I have a lot of respect for his work and the pride he takes in what he does," said Littlefield.
"Bobby is a guy who has a lot of experience as a Major League coach, including as a pitching coach. He relates well to players, he's shown an ability to see things and correct things, and he's a team player. In that role as a bullpen coach he'll work well with [pitching coach] Jim Colburn and Jim Tracy."
Cuellar is the fourth Pirates coach to be hired since Tracy took over as the manager in October, and each has past ties to the new Bucs skipper. Colburn, bench coach Jim Lett and first-base coach John Shelby were members of the Los Angeles coaching staff during Tracy's tenure as the Dodgers' manager.
"The most important thing is for [Tracy] to be able to get good people on board that he's comfortable with that can help our players get better," said Littlefield.
The Pirates hope to have their hitting coach and third-base coach vacancies filled within the next week.

Source: http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/