PITTSBURGH – Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Jim Tracy was hired yesterday as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ manager, The Associated Press learned.The Pirates made the announcement at a news conference later yesterday, according to a source close to the team who requested anonymity.The move sends Tracy from a team that traditionally has one of baseball’s highest payrolls to one with one of the lowest.Tracy, 49, has been the front-runner from the start of the Pirates’ search last week because of his long-standing ties to Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield, with whom he worked in the Montreal Expos’ organization in the 1990s.Tracy beat out the only two known candidates for the job, former Oakland Athletics manager Ken Macha and Atlanta Braves coach Fredi Gonzalez. Tracy replaces Lloyd McClendon, who was fired Sept. 6 during his fifth consecutive losing season and was replaced for the rest of the season by bench coach Pete Mackanin, who was not considered for the job on a permanent basis.Littlefield also wanted to interview former Pirates manager Jim Leyland, but he took the Tigers’ job last week before he could talk with the Pirates again.Tracy interviewed with Littlefield last week by phone and, after Littlefield met Sunday in Pittsburgh with Macha, Tracy and Littlefield met Monday in Houston – the home of Tracy’s agent, Alan Hendricks. Tracy was to have made $700,000 next year with the Dodgers before the two sides parted ways following a 71-91 season, but Tracy is expected to make more than that in Pittsburgh.With the Pirates, Tracy takes over a team coming off 13 consecutive losing seasons, three short of the major league record, and a 67-95 record but one that broke in a half-dozen promising rookies during the second half of this season, including left-handed starters Zach Duke (8-2, 1.81 ERA) and Paul Maholm (3-1, 2.18 ERA).Tracy is expected to have free rein to hire his own coaches, as the Pirates coaches were told following the season finale on Oct. 2 they would not be brought back.