Pittsburgh Pirates’ GM Huntington on Marte, Offense, Injuries & More

Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager reviewed the status of many injuries on the club as well as 2017 in his weekly radio show.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are playing out the string while clinging to incredibly faint playoff hopes.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the bulk of questions for General Manager Neal Huntington on his weekly radio show concerned 2017. Here now is a recap of the highlights of his talk with announcer Greg Brown. As always, these are direct quotes from the Pirates’ GM.

On the Pittsburgh Prates re-signing Ivan Nova

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Well, again, if it were up to Ivan I’m sure he would have signed a very huge, lucrative deal. If it were up to us, we would have signed him. There has to be a common financial ground that we’ll work to find. We won’t comment on whether we are doing that now or in the off-season. There is a challenge to signing any player that is this close to free agency. They’ve earned this opportunity. In some cases guys come from an environment they weren’t thrilled about…typically to sign a player in their walk year, you have to have a player like David Freese who absolutely wants to stay where he’s at, or a player that wants to explore things. As J.A. Happ showed last year, two months can have an incredible impact. At the end of the day, we hope he [Nova] wants to stay with the Pittsburgh Pirates.[/perfectpullquote]

On the Team’s Recent Offensive Explosion

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Hitting is contagious; sometimes hwen a team struggles, guys try to do more. It can be contagious in a negative way. We’ve been disciplined, we’ve attacked our pitch when we’ve gotten it. We’ve had some great approaches; not tried to do too much; stayed within ourselves.[/perfectpullquote]

On the Club’s Need For An Established Starting Pitcher In 2017

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]No question, we would like to add a veteran starter, but that starter has to be better than the young starters we have. If there’s that match out there, we would absolutely like to get a verteran starter, or keep Nova who is a veteran.[/perfectpullquote]

On Starling Marte‘s Injury, And a Potential Shutdown

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]The back continues to bother him to a point where he does not feel he can go out and compete. The want to is absolutely there. This young man is driven to get back out there; But as with Gerrit, the body is just not cooperating; as with Gerrit Cole and anybody else, you want to give them the chance to come back out and compete if there’s no risk of additional harm. So, we ant to honor that, but at the same time, we need to be cognizant of what’s best for them and for us as well.[/perfectpullquote]

On the Team Playing Younger Players If/When the Club is Officially Eliminated

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Great question; we are playing young players. Josh Bell‘s playing a lot; Adam Frazier is playing a lot. Tyler Glasnow is getting innings in the pen – which right now we think is a great thing for him. Brownie, it’s not like we’re playing our veteran players and burying our youngsters. They’re gaining some significant experience.[/perfectpullquote] [irp posts=”9874″ name=”Taming MLB’s Wild Card Format”]