On his weekly radio show, Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington commented on yesterday’s win, the injury to Gerrit Cole and the demotion of Adam Frazier to Single-A Bristol.
Pittsburgh Pirates GM Neal Huntington spoke with host Greg Brown during his weekly appearance on the team’s flagship station today, hitting on some hot topics surrounding the organization.
On club backing up Taillon during tough outing last night
Last night, Jameson Taillon had arguably his worst start of his major league career as he allowed five earned runs in only three innings of work. The offense backed up Taillon as he received a no decision in the 9-6 Pirates victory. Huntington talked about the Pirates resiliency in Yesterday’s matchup.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]To see this club bounce back from i think probably Jameson’s one tough start of the season was great to see last night. The better at-bats, the better consistent at-bats, the better at-bats top to bottom, it was a fun night. The bullpen, I can’t say enough about the job Juan Nicasio did, [Neftali] Feliz closing it out, Jeff Locke, other than the first pitch ambush, threw the ball very well.[/perfectpullquote]On how to measure club’s success
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]We’ve won three games here but there are some things we left on the table. We’ve lost some games along the way, but we’ve played well. Again, you’d like to think you’re win/loss record would be driven by how you play and that’s our goal. We are process oriented and if we play the game the right way, we believe we are talented enough to play with and beat anybody in the game, but we are not talented enough to just show up and expect to win. [/perfectpullquote]On Gerrit Cole’s injury
It was reported that Gerrit Cole is going to Los Angeles tomorrow to receive a second opinion on an elbow issue that has been lingering since his last start against the Houston Astros on Wednesday. Here is what Huntington had to say about this particular topic.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]The reality is we will know more tomorrow once we see where Gerrit is and he made us aware after his last start that he had a little bit of discomfort on the outside of his elbow. We worked through the evaluation process and the second opinion became a part of the process. That’s why he is obviously missing his start tomorrow in Chicago. We will get the report from the doctor, see where it compares to what our guys have said and move forward.[/perfectpullquote]On injury impact on Cole’s stuff
The injury has seemed to possibly have an impact on Cole’s effectiveness on the mound as he has struggled in recent weeks. It is the hope of Huntington and the staff that this second opinion can be a stepping stone into getting Cole back in the right direction.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Obviously it has been a tough month for Gerrit and the effectiveness and the pitch execution hasn’t been there. Our goal is to get him back to where he is able to have the quality stuff and execute his pitches with consistency and get him back to being Gerrit Cole.[/perfectpullquote]On Steven Brault making start on Monday
With Cole not making his next scheduled start on Monday against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Pirates are expected to recall Steven Brault from Triple-A Indianapolis to start on Monday in his place. Here is what the Pirates GM had to say about Brault, who will be making his third career MLB start.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]It’s time to see if the next man can step up and that next man for Monday is Steve Brault. Given the bulk of his work and given the weapons that he has, we feel like he’s going to go out there and give us a chance to win.[/perfectpullquote]On Adam Frazier heading to Single-A Bristol
With the bullpen being used on a regular basis in the past week, the Pirates made the move to recall AJ Schugel from Triple-A Indianapolis and send Adam Frazier down to Single-A Bristol. This may seem like a bizarre move, but it makes sense. Huntington explained the reasoning for this move.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]He [Frazier] will have 72 hours to report there and the reason why Bristol over Indianapolis is that the Bristol season ends on Thursday, which will allow us to recall Adam on Friday. [/perfectpullquote]Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
