Pittsburgh Pirates’ GM Huntington on McCutchen, September Callups; More

Pittsburgh Pirates GM Neal Huntington held court on his weekly radio show, commenting on the team’s newfound stability, potential September call ups & more.

Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington held his weekly radio address with Greg Brown on Sunday, and a wide range of topics where discussed. Below you’ll find his direct quotes on numerous items.

On Andrew McCutchen‘s Recent Resugrence

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]There are two very positive signs. First, he’s making pitchers come to him and making mistakes. And two – when he makes those mistakes, he’s driving those on a line to either left center or right center. The fact that he’s back to being patient and disciplined – and again if he’s putting good swings on baseballs, he will damage mistakes – there are very good signs that Andrew is pulling himself out of his troubles.[/perfectpullquote]

On the Club’s Resurgence After the Trade Deadline

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Well it’s always good to put wins in the bank. There’s still more that we can do. The games we’ve lost, you feel like we’ve missed opportunities. At this point in the year, every win is that much more important. However many wins you finish, the wins you get in April count as much as the ones in August. As we sit in tie for WC, we have a few games in hand, and we need to play good baseball.[/perfectpullquote]

On the Boost that September Call Ups May Provide

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]We are looking forward to it [The Sept 1 date for teams to expand to 40-man rosters]. We’ve been aggressive with it, and we expect to do that this year. Whether it be an additional catcher, or some defensive versatility or bats off the bench, or even some arms. We may also get the arms to have a six-man rotation for a time or two through the rotation, we’ll look at that. We’ll be able to make some adjustments due to the versatility we have. It may be a two-way situation, but we’ll play it by ear. Those conversations are going on right now.[/perfectpullquote]

On Jung Ho Kang‘s Struggles in the Field

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]He’s caught in between defensively at thrid base. Nick [Leyva]  is working on timing issues with him right now. There have been some balls hard hit at him that he is not making plays. We do believe there is a mechanical issue that we are working on with him. Of course, confidence is an issue with any player and we are working to build up his confidence.[/perfectpullquote]

On Francisco Cervelli Gutting Through the Rest of the Season

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]That’s the challenge with the Hamate injury. We’ve removed the injured body part, but he is going to have some weakness, some tendinitis…it’s something he’s going to have to play through. He won’t have the same hand strength until next year after significant rest, but he will not reaggravate the injury. Rest is the only thing that alleviates the strength deficit or the pain he will feel on the occasional swing.[/perfectpullquote]

On Ray Searage‘s Usual Practice of Being Hands-off at First, and if Drew Hutchison Falls Into the Same Practice

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]We are a relationship based organization. What tends to happen, is coaches all want to help, and that’s a great thing. But the worst thing is to help, and that didn’t work, so help again, and that didn’t work either, so if we build the relationship, when we go to make an adjustment or recommend and adjustment, we get right to the root cause as opposed to picking through 5-6 layers above the root cause.[/perfectpullquote]

On the Starting Rotation’s Newfound Stability and if Tyler Glasnow Can Slide Back In

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]That would be the ideal part of it. Looking forward to another quality, low in the zone, quality sink, quality change outing from Chad Kuhl today. Ryan Vogelsong threw the ball well in his second outing. Jameston Taillon threw very well in his last start. Tyler Glasnow will need some more time to get back to where we thought he would be, so some stability is needed right now.[/perfectpullquote]

On the Frustration Of the Pittsburgh Pirates leaving 18 Men On Base on Saturday

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]You take a look at the approaches. Are we playing hero baseball? Is everyone trying to hit a three run home run? It does not seem that way. In 17 outs into the game, we had 17 runners and three runs. You think – man if we could just punch a few more opportunities through. When you have a chance to put up a crooked number…we have not done a good job of that in the past. But, glass half full- we put a lot of runners on. The key to scoring runs is to put a ton of baserunners on.[/perfectpullquote]

Check back next Sunday for Pirates Breakdown’s weekly breakdown of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager’s comments.

Featured photo credit – Dan Oaken – Flickr Creative Commons