With the All-Star Break right around the corner, Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington met with the media to discuss his usual variety of topics.
Huntington discussed the All-Star Game and the likelihood that the Pirates will have multiple people selected. Starters will be announced Sunday night and the rest of the team Monday.
“I don’t think we’ve viewed a guy being on a team because he had to be on the team,” Huntington said. “We typically had someone that was playing well and deserving. We just have more guys that are playing well and deserving. We actually have guys who probably won’t make the team that are very deserving. It’s a great step for our organization to have multiple guys every year because typically winning teams get multiple guys and we want as many guys that have a chance that we possibly can.”
Huntington’s ties with Cleveland are noted. He cites general manager Chris Antonetti as one of his best friends and president Mark Shapiro as one of his biggest mentors. Regardless however it is all business when the two teams play each other.
“It’s a friendly competition but when the umpire says play ball I hope we sweep,” said Huntington. “That’s no different when any team plays here. I still root for them when they’re not playing the Pirates but I still want them to do well because of the personal relationships and friendships but we compete our tails off to do everything we can to be better then they are.”
The Pirates general manager also reflected on the team’s depth with the trade of Clayton Richard and Jameson Taillon injury.
“We’ve taken some dings and dents in the process,” Huntington acknowledged. “We’ve got one of the 100 pitchers that had an ERA under four last year sitting as our sixth guy in our bullpen in Vance Worley. We’re going to get Casey Sadler healthy, Radhames Liz has gone down and really thrown the ball well in his last two starts and we also have Angel Sanchez and Wilfredo Boscan. They don’t have the same name power as Jameson Taillon or Clayton Richard, but we have guys that can come up here and win if the need arises.”
With July baseball now taking place, it means that the trade deadline is right around the corner. Huntington offered his early take on the market.
“It’s going to be an interesting trade deadline because there’s a very few sellers and a huge number of buyers,” said Huntington. “We’ve done some things well and we’ve done some things we could do better. We’re in a good spot but we have to continue to move forward.”
Huntington also reflected on Gregory Polanco and though he has had his struggles, stated that there has not been a conversation about demoting the right fielder.
Photo credit: MILB.com
