So the Pittsburgh Pirates fired their pitching and hitting coaches, Joe Kerrigan and Gary Varsho, respectively.

Great. Now the real winning can begin.

Seriously, jettisoning two of your coaches might seem like a last-ditch attempt to save your job, but the two coaches have had some success in their careers.

Kerrigan was a well-renown coach, lauded for his work for several major-league teams, including Boston.

Varsho was best known around Pittsburgh for his usefulness during the 1991 and 1992 seasons, the last two Pirates squads that reached the postseason — and the last, sadly, to have winning seasons.

I'll admit, when Kerrigan was hired, I thought it was a great move for the Pirates.

Kerrigan was an experienced pitching coach, which brought back to mind the great Ray Miller, who did wonders for the Pirates staff back with Jim Leyland in those middle-to-late 1980s and early 1990s.

Finally, all these young pitchers the Pirates had called up were going to get someone who could get through to them and guide them.

It never quite worked that way. They did have some nice runs, like the first two months last season, but as usual, things fell off .

The biggest rub with Kerrigan came as several top pitchers this year — including former first-round pick Brad Lincoln — struggled and were sent down.

Actually, pitchers such as Zach Duke and Pat Maholm (as well as since-traded pitchers Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny) never improved after each having one fine season.

Talk of Kerrigan tweaking their styles started to emerge and perhaps it was time for a change.

Will former major leaguers Ray Searage and Jeff Banister (Banister played on the '91 Pirates) make that much of a difference?

Most likely, no, but the Pirates have got to shake things up a little. Staring at its 18th consecutive losing season — a major-league baseball record —changes are needed even though the team is going in the right direction.

It doesn't look like it could get any lower, but the young hitters on the team show promise. It's the pitching where the most help is needed.

As for next year? Pirates fans have been waiting for next year since 1993.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.