Pirates GM Barks Back

Pittsburgh Pirates GM had a great quote on his weekly ‘Neal Huntington Show.’

"We will be perceived as incompetent until the team wins.  Then we will be called geniuses by those same people."

–Huntington came out firing when asked about the recent report at The Post Gazette about this homestand being critical for John Russell.  He said,’ I could make up a report that Dejan is going to get fired from his job at the Post Gazette.’ 

I about fell over.

It furthers my stance that it’s ridiculous to do this show because it certainly makes Huntington look like a scorned teenager.  Greg Brown lobs these questions up and Huntington does his best to knock them out.   The show furthers my opinion that Huntington isn’t afraid to say some crazy shit.  This was especially amusing for me.

"“When you hide behind imaginary sources that aren’t going to go on the record, you can say anything you want.”"

–I gathered that JR is not going anywhere.  He said a whole mess of NH speak to claim responsibility for the team.

–The Pirates encouraged  their eighth round pick Kime to go to orientation with Louisville.

–Hayden Penn is very interested in going to Japan.  The Pirates are working through the deal.  Vinne Chulk is also interested in getting out of Indianapolis too.

–He mentioned that Erik Kratz gives John Russell more options.  He said that Jaramillo and Doumit were having similar struggles at the plate.  I gathered that Kratz could see some playing time if he proves he can hit major league pitching.

"— We set the playoffs as a goal, not as a prediction. Have we lost more games than we expected? Yeah, we have. How do we overcome that? We need to play good, sound, fundamental baseball… Wins and losses are an outcome. How we play the game is the process. And that’s our focus, the process, and how we help these guys get better. If we take care of the process, the results will take care of themselves"