Pirates GM Neal Huntington Show Notes

Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington held his weekly radio show with Greg Brown today.  Below are some notes from the show.

Pirates left fielder Starling Marte is day-to-day with a badly bruised left hand, but he will not be placed on the DL. Marte Partay was hit with a 91-mph fastball from Rockies reliever Josh Outman.

A big part of Marte’s game is about getting on base and we can recall him getting hit by pitches throughout his minor league career. Some sort of brace would be a really, really good idea we think.

Huntington said

"…we dodged two bullets last night with Pedro Alvarez and Marte.  Both players were injured, fingers crossed the players should be ok.  We can’t take anything for granted.Initial x-ray was no break on Starling, but no we have to manage symptoms.  We have to see how the next couple days go for him."

Regarding the brace, Huntington said Marte doesn’t have fear on the up and in pitch.  He exposes himself to hand injuries and probably even worse.  We should probably look into some type of protective brace since it appears he is going to keep hanging in there.
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We feel positive about Wandy.  He is feeling good.

Jason Grilli is also progressing nicely Huntington said.

There was some discussion about James McDonald.  Huntington didn’t come out and say it, but some talk about JMac possibly being a bullpen arm did come up.  Huntington said he would need to earn his way back and he has good chance to earn spot in the pen or even spot start if needed.

The Bucs GM said he doesn’t have numbers to support, but he feels that the waiver claims have been very aggressive.  Fewer players placed on waivers early as normal.  Five years ago, it seemed players were on early.  It seems like more players are being claimed.  I haven’t run the numbers, purely anecdotal.  We know who we have claimed.  (So the Bucs have made a claim it would seem)

Unfortunately, Huntington was interrupted by Brown.  He had to explain the process a bit to Brown.  It would have been a great time for the question…how many players have you claimed, any type of informational question would have been interesting.  But anyone it certainly seems the Bucs claimed at least a player.

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Regarding about the rotation switch and giving Gerrit Cole off against St. Louis.  We don’t want to make to much of any series.  This was about giving him a blow.  He’s been healthy all year.

Huntington mentioned that the team have 20 straight games in September.

Regarding the Cards changing Adam Wainwright to face the Bucs this week,  Huntington said that he doesn’t know what the Cards intent is, maybe just keeping the veteran on his routine.

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Huntington said this about Andrew Lambo.  Good arm, defense is solid, some glitches on the way.  We traded for him for a reason.  It seems like he has been with us forever, he is still just 24.

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Not discussed on the show, but has to be coming up on the Clint Hurdle show…

There was some buzz about a possible suspension for Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle after his furious argument and subsequent ejection with second-base umpire Adrian Johnson in last nights game in Colorado.

Johnson tossed Hurdle in the top of the seventh inning in the frustrating 6-4 Bucs loss at Coors Field. Hurdle argued that Rockies 28-year old SS Troy Tulowitzki‘s foot was not near second base when the Rockies turned a double play. After Hurdle watched the replay, he said he was wrong.

But during the argument it appeared that Johnson asked Hurdle if he spit on him on purpose.  As we hear more on this front, we will update with a post for you as we see fit.