"Neal Huntington acknowledges that his first season as the Pittsburgh Pirates' general manager was not what he wanted. That goes beyond the final record of 67-95.

One area in which Huntington feels he erred was putting together an inexperienced coaching staff for first-year manger John Russell. Huntington made changes to that staff this week when he fired pitching coach Jeff Andrews and first base coach Lou Frazier.

"I felt it was important to have a good teaching staff but I also have come to believe that we need at least one veteran coach on the staff, too, especially with us having such a young team," Huntington said. "I think having a veteran baseball man would be a great resource for not only the players but John and the rest of our staff."

That veteran coach is likely to fill Frazier's spot at first base. One possibility is Luis Issac, fired this week as Cleveland's bullpen coach after spending 45 years in the Indians' organization, 21 on the major-league coaching staff.

One interesting name popping up for the pitching coach vacancy is Rick Peterson, who was fired by the New York Mets in June when manager Willie Randolph was also fired. He is the son of former Pirates GM Harding Peterson.

Peterson, 53, was the Pirates bullpen coach in 1984-85 and a major-league pitching coach with the Chicago White Sox (1994-95) and Oakland (1998-2003).

Another possibility is Rod Nichols, pitching coach for Philadelphia's Class AAA Lehigh Valley farm club. Nichols was the pitching coach when Russell managed the Phillies' top farm clubs in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Ottawa in 2006 and 2007.

Phillies right-hander Brett Myers endorses Nichols.

"I think he's a great pitching coach and he definitely could do the job on the major-league level," Myers said. "He just has a really good way of getting through to pitchers, making them understand what they need to do to get better.""