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Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager Neal Huntington discussed the status of his club on his weekly radio show. Here’s a recap of the best bits.
Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington makes a weekly radio hit on the team’s flagship radio station 93.7 The Fan. Each Sunday, Bucs Dugout will bring you a recapping of Huntington’s show, picking out the best tidbits from the show, hosted by Pirates announcers. Let’s get started.
All quotes are direct from Neal Huntington as told to host Joe Block:
On the club’s recent struggle:
“This is a young, talented and hungry club. With that young team comes stretches like we are going through now. We were able to capitalize on strength of schedule, or lack thereof, but we also won some games against quality teams. ...We knew we were going to up against it. If you look at baseball, winning and losing strengths come with strength of schedule. “
On if it is fair to say that the next month will decide what direction this club would take:
“It’s early, and again we’ve been a good team and a not very good team. We have been a not very good team for longer than we were hoping at this point....we will continue to take a look. We would love nothing more than to get this club on track, to get the club for the 8th consecutive season in a position to add in July. “
On Sean Rodriguez’s status on the club
“I think Sean would be the first person that would agree that he is not doing what he has done, clearly, and what he’s capable of doing. We are working through a stretch now, for two reasons. One, Yes, we had the rain out a few nights ago, but that’s really not an off-day. The second reason is that Sean has been working hard in the batting tunnel....working hard to make the adjustments, to make that right, and the only way to test that is to play in a game. “
On how the club views Joe Musgrove, who has struggled over his last two starts:
“He is much closer to the guy who was the 36th best prospect in baseball...he had weapons enough, struggled as a starter last year...we have seen the guy that can throw the kitchen sink at you, with action. This is a guy with power. We see a competitor, a really strong baseball player who wants to go out and beat the opposition. He wants the ball, and wants the ball in situations. We see the guy who we believe has starting traits, and can be a good starting pitcher for years to come.”