Bucs Hire Three Coaches

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that Tony Beasley, Luis Dorante and Gary Varsho have been named to the Major League coaching staff for the 2008 season.

The announcement was made by Pirates Senior Vice President and General Manager Neal Huntington along with Field Manager John Russell.

Tony Beasley will be the club’s Third Base Coach. The 40-year-old Beasley spent the 2007 season as Pittsburgh’s minor league Infield Coordinator after spending the 2006 campaign as the Third Base Coach for the Washington Nationals. He also spent five seasons as a manager in the Pirates farm system (2001-05), guiding his clubs to the post season four times and to an overall record of 372-258 (.590 winning pct.). Beasley has been a part of the Pirates organization as a minor league player, coach and manager for 15 years (1992-2005, 2007).

Luis Dorante will be the club’s Bullpen Coach. Dorante, 39, spent the last six years in the Florida Marlins organization, most recently as a manager with Class-A Jupiter in 2007 and Double-A Carolina in 2006. He served the Marlins as their Bullpen Coach in 2005 after managing the Jupiter club for three seasons (2002-04). A former catcher, the Venezuelan native played five seasons of minor league ball before serving the Montreal Expos as a scout in Venezuela in 1994. Dorante managed and coached in the Expos farm system for seven years before joining the Florida organization in 2002. Overall, he has spent 11 years as a minor league manager.

Gary Varsho will be the club’s Bench Coach. The former Bucco outfielder returns to the organization for the first time since playing for manager Jim Leyland in 1994. Varsho, 41, was Cleveland’s minor league Outfield/Baserunning Coordinator in 2007 after spending five seasons (2002-06) as the Philadelphia Phillies Bench Coach. Prior to joining the major league staff in Philadelphia, Varsho spent five seasons as a minor league manager and compiled a 383-319 record (.546 winning pct.). A major league player for eight years from 1988-