Strange twist, this hiring of John Russell to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates.

When he was brought in as third base coach under Lloyd McClendon in 2003, the general assumption was Russell was also standing in the on-deck circle to become the team's skipper.

He had an impressive minor league resume then, including Baseball America's honor as Minor League Manager of the Year in 2002 while in the Minnesota Twins farm system.

Yet when McClendon was fired late in the 2005 season, it was Pete Mackanin, not Russell, who received the job on an interim basis.

When the 2005 season ended, Mackanin and the Pirates coaching staff were not retained.

Of course, now the Pirates have a new CEOand general manager. And Russell's reputation as a solid major league managerial prospect never changed.

Before being offered the Pirates job, he had been a candidate for a couple of other big league posts, most recently losing out to Manny Acta for the Washington Nationals position.

It's not so much Russell's hiring that's strange as much as it is other names who never got an interview for the job:

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Mackanin. He not only did a solid job saving the ship down the stretch here in 2005, he did a similar job with Cincinnati as interim manager this season. Mackanin was never considered for either the Pirates or Reds job on a full-time basis.•

Phil Garner. A fiery guy with Pittsburgh connections who took the Houston Astros to the World Series in 2005.•

Ken Macha. He went public in saying he was interested in the job. He lives in the Pittsburgh area, is familiar with the Pirates' personnel and was successful managing a young Oakland A's team with a limited payroll.•

Art Howe. Another Pittsburgh guy who washed out with the New York Mets, but went to the playoffs with the small-market A's.While it's odd they weren't considered, Russell's hiring shouldn't be met with negativity.He was the International League Manager of the Year in 2006, and there's no rule that says a team has to hire a manager with previous major league experience.Clint Hurdle never managed in the majors before the Colorado Rockies hired him. Ditto for Mike Scioscia with the Angels, Bob Brenly with Arizona, Ozzie Guillen with the White Sox — and they all took their teams to the World Series.The Pirates aren't ready for that, certainly, but Russell appears to be a good fit in terms of bringing along a young team. He has experience managing at every level of the minor leagues, from rookie ball through Class AAA.His most critical hire will be a pitching coach to further develop the talents of Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell and Paul Maholm and resurrect the career of Zach Duke.John Russell is not a familiar name among managers in the big leagues.Neither was Jim Leyland.