Good job by Neal Huntington last week. We’ve been back and forth on him this offseason, so here’s another check mark on the plus side.
As everyone well knows, he’s been put in a very tough situation. The Pirates are a bad team with few valuable assets and an unproductive minor league system. The Major League roster is older than people think, there’s little on the way, and only Freddy Sanchez is near his peak trade value.
In other words, short of trading Sanchez (which they should do, regardless of the P.R. nightmare that would ensue) or pulling off a miracle deal for Jason Bay or Xavier Nady or Matt Morris, Huntington’s hands are pretty much tied this offseason. And for a team facing their sixteenth straight losing season (which would tie a Major League record), doing nothing isn’t exactly the best way to endear yourself to the public.
Yet it’s undoubtedly the right strategy, and Huntington has stuck to his guns. Even more impressive was the way he defended himself after Bay voiced his displeasure about the lack of action. Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Told of Bay’s comments, Huntington said he has “great respect for Jason Bay and his desire to win” and did not sound at all displeased.
“We aggressively pursued many pieces for the 2008 team,” Huntington said. “We can’t sign free agents just to appease the public. We can’t make trades when players are at their lowest value just to make ourselves feel better.”
That’s just about a perfect response, and it shows that he definitely gets it on some level. Which is more than anybody can say about the Pirates’ previous management teams.
Sports franchises are too often treated like public companies where fans have a vested interest in the team’s fortune. The Pirates are no different, even if there are always more Roethlisberger jerseys than Bay jerseys at PNC Park. So when teams act in ways that the public doesn’t understand or just doesn’t agree with, it can create a hostile environment.
Being realistic, Huntington has plenty of political capital on his side, being in his first year with a team that was a certified trainwreck. But with that being said, he’s done a solid job, taking the right approach to the offseason while weathering whatever criticism has come his way.
Feedback? Write a comment, or e-mail the author at shawn(AT)squawkingbaseball.com
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