Rob Biertempfel says this morning that the Pirates have extended Clint Hurdle through the 2014 season with an option for 2015. We're at a slow point for spring training news (everyone's in Bradenton but nothing's going to happen) so I suppose this will probably get some play in the news for the next 18 hours or thereabouts, but I think that it's pretty uninteresting as far as news goes.
Hurdle's contract was due up at the end of 2013 and "lame duck" status for managers is something the media loves to drum up into controversy, so this takes care of it. The reality is that 2013 is probably Neal Huntington's last shot at putting a winning team on the field at PNC Park. If the Pirates are disappointing in any way this year, Huntington will be out the door and if he goes, Hurdle will almost certainly follow him. The actual status of his contract probably doesn't matter much.
