For the final time in the first half of the season, Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington met with members of the media to discuss the state of the team heading into the All-Star Break and what to look for in the immediate future.
The following transcript looks at several of the topics Huntington spoke about:
On Josh Bell: “We’ll take the home runs as they show up more frequently as he learns the league.”
On if Francisco Cervelli has been a bargain: “Being straightforward, he’s exceeded expectations. We believed we were getting a guy that was going to receive, block, game call, lead, sell out to a staff, throw well enough if we gave us a chance. He’s done that and then some. Obviously the bat has been a very pleasant outcome as well.”
On the ability on minor league guys to move around the diamond: “As we’ve become a better major league team it’s harder to break in if you only play one spot. In an ideal world, each will establish themselves at one position but it gives them an additional opportunity if they can play multiple positions.”
Regarding the trade deadline: “It is an extreme seller’s market. That doesn’t mean that deals won’t be made or that we won’t meet in the middle of things. We will work to try and accomplish some things to sure up some soft spots on the club. At the same time we will look for internal line ups as Josh [Harrison], Corey [Hart] and Andrew [Lambo] all try to get healthy. We will always try to look externally and see if there is something that makes sense for us.”
Concerning Tyler Glasnow’s last start: “His last outing was fun to watch. The velocity was back, the life at the top and bottom of the zone. He threw some very good breaking balls, but the changeup still is a work in progress. It’s hard to push him too much but he went out and competed as a healthy pitcher. It’s a great step forward for him.”
On his assessment at half: “I don’t think I’m ever happy about where we are. I try to be an optimist by nature but a realist and pessimist comes out at times. We’ve made mistakes along the way. Our staff and players we can continue to tighten some things up there. We can always be better, we’re not in first place, we’re not the best team in baseball but we are doing some things well. We really haven’t clicked as a club yet and that’s fun to think of but there’s still more we can do.”
An update on Corey Hart: “Corey’s had some discomfort in his knees, so we’ve shut his rehab. He’s going to come back to Pittsburgh and be re-evaluated and we’ll see where he is, probably after the All-Star Break.”
Trade deadline talk continued: “I used to really not like this time of year because there was so much fantasy out there. Guys’ names would be out there that we had no interest in and there were guys’ names that would not be out that we expressed interest in. For every 15 players, that are mentioned, one might actually have some information. It’s a lot like the NFL Draft, or even our draft where a club will float its own player’s names out there with the idea of creating some type of conversation. At the same time we want to do everything we can to stay behind the scenes and stay private. The one thing that bothers me the most is when people start throwing out young prospect’s names as guys that could be traded. They forget that they [the prospects] are kids and they forget that they have moms, dads, brothers and sisters. It’s one thing for a veteran to go through it, but it’s another thing for a 22-year-old kid to go through. That’s always the one hot button I have.”
