Don’t know if I’m the only one who saw this, but the July issue of ESPN magazine has a short feature by Buster Olney in which a dozen MLB general managers talked anonymously about their peers on various subjects. Of interest to the Pirates is that Neal Huntington was rated in the “Toughest GMs to Make a Deal With” category.

Said one GM, “It feels formal talking with him, to the point of being uncomfortable.”

Take it for what it’s worth, but I don’t necessarily see it as a bad thing that other GMs, whose basis for judgment is probably whether or not a guy is a pushover, aren’t always “comfortable” talking with Huntington.