Pittsburgh Pirates GM Talks Trade Deadline, Wandy, KC, Brad Lincoln and Jose Tabata

The Neal Huntington Show was on 93.7 The Fan this afternoon and we listened in so we could pass along some of the information the Pittsburgh Pirates GM had to say.  Wandy Rodriguez was the first subject of conversation after Greg Brown asked if Huntington was scoreboard watching.

This is what Huntington had to say on the Wandy topic which was very candid by the Pirates GM.

Wandy gives us a chance to win every time out we thought he was significant upgrade to rotation, Huntington said.  [Note:  we didn’t get word for word quotes because we were preparing for domination on the softball diamond, but they are pretty close.  Check out The Fan’s website  in case they put it up]

Kevin Correia was a hot topic.  Huntington spoke very highly of the right hander.  In fact, Neal said it would be hard to imagine KC  not getting another start with  injuries or the need for a spot start in the upcoming stretches of games during August or September.

Reading into the comments, Huntington sounded very confident that the Bucs have six quality starting pitchers.  Perhaps, a deal for KC won’t be in the works, unless he demands it.  We would have a hard time seeing KC just being given away in a deal.  Skipper Clint Hurdle likes veterans and that might have an impact on any deal involving Correia.

This nugget on Jose Tabata sounded promising.  Tabata looks like he saw what was written about him and he looks like he is back on track at AAA, said Huntington.

Huntington mentioned the team was set to recall Starling Marte, but he looked tired after the AAA All-Star game in Buffalo.

It sounds like Brad Lincoln will stay in pen and the team would look toward Jeff Locke or Justin Wilson if a spot start would be needed that Correia couldn’t pitch.

All of the typical jargon was exchanged, but one that jumped off the radio for me was this:  sometimes  clubs in our position add and subtract….  not that we are doing that though, but sometimes comprable clubs have done that.

Now that sounds like a really interesting deal could be on the horizon if a scenario like that one were to occur.

Nothing earth shattering was revealed by Huntington as one could expect, but we liked this one.  He said this quickly and I think I caught what he meant…some of the bench players the Pirates were inquiring on had higher asks from the teams GM’s than some of the starting pitching the Pirates were looking at acquiring.

In other words, if you want offense, you are going to need to pay.  At least right now, which would make sense.

One of the most interesting things Huntington said on the show was this, there are players that fans think are available right now, that really aren’t available, or aren’t going to be available.  The sellers are being very agressive with what they are asking for in return.

It’s funny to hear this as you might recall, that was what was being said about the Pirates during rebuilding seasons.  Comments like the ‘Pirates value their prospects a little too highly,’ was commonplace during the past two trade deadlines.

The Bucs did make a trade with the Atlanta Braves yesterday and Neal talked about it.  Brian Friday is a really good person and we got a bat back that we liked, said Huntington at the conclusion of the show.  Friday was blocked in the organization, Huntington mentioned, and the team felt it was a good opportunity for Friday.