Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington met with reporters prior to Sunday’s game and spoke on several topics, including injuries and the approaching trade deadline.
On pitcher Tyler Glasnow’s right shoulder discomfort: “I feel like we caught it early. That’s always good, but we don’t have a lot of information to relay at this time. I don’t think it was one pitch that he felt it on. To his credit, he’s trying not to let it be an excuse. He wanted to put his team in a position to win the game, and he didn’t do that. The last place he wants to be is on the disabled list. If he’s ready after 16 days, that’s great, but, if not, we’ll take the time it requires him to be healthy, because we need him healthy and effective.”
On pitcher Chad Kuhl’s triceps injury: “Much like Tyler (Glasnow), it’s too early, and we want to see how he responds when he gets in and with treatment the next couple of days. It was an awkward throw on a ball he fielded and felt it. Our staff was aggressive getting out of the game. We hope it’s shorter term than longer term.”
On whether relying too much on rookie pitchers could hurt the Pirates: “Some teams have had a lot of success with rookie pitchers. Gerrit Cole was very good for us in 2013, and Michael Wacha was good for St. Louis in 2013. If they get enough experience, they aren’t a rookie once it’s the postseason. If they have stuff, discipline and the ability to control emotions, then it could be an advantage. We’ll look at each situation. Would we like to add pitching to this group? Absolutely. But at the same time, because of the young pitching we have, that bar is set pretty high for what makes us better.”
On the Pirates’ approach to trades: “Each conversation is different. Sometimes there’s give and take and other times it’s a simple yes or no. There is no typical (conversation), and we put an evaluation on our players. We may be high in some cases, we may be low in other cases. … When you match, you have a chance for a deal. When you don’t, then you go your separate ways and turn your attention elsewhere. There’s so many different nuances.
We typically like to have the other teams ask on the players they like rather than us shooting in the dark. There are teams that ask and others that want offers. We are comfortable operating either way. Sure, there are players we are less inclined to move for a variety of reasons, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t deal them in the right situation. We have to be open to anything, but there’s an awareness of the opportunity cost and the acquisition cost.”
On prospect Austin Meadows’ strained right hamstring: “Again we’re more conservative in our approach. He’s running, throwing and taking batting practice — (he’s) making great progress. Austin is probably frustrated that we’ve held him to the slow pace we’ve held him, but the big picture is getting him healthy and productive.”
On pitcher Ryan Vogelsong’s recovery from facial surgery: “We’ve been trying to get him to 90-95 pitches, so if we had the need or there was an injury at the Major League level, we could start him. If not, we could always put him in a multi-inning reliever role. He only got to 60-75 pitches. Our goal is to get him back down for at least one more start, and we’ll see where he is from there. Ideally, we’ll give him that 90-95 pitch mark because then he becomes a viable Major League starter option for us. We want to see him feeling good and the ball coming out of his hand good.”
Image credit: Matt Slocum/Associated Press
