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GM Huntington Discusses Ike Davis Trade, Chris Stewart Signing

PITTSBURGH (93-7 THE FAN) – Neal Huntington sat down with Pirates broadcaster Greg Brown on Sunday to give an update on the squad.

Neal Huntington begins by talking about his recent acquisition of first baseman Ike Davis from the New York Mets. The Pirates added Davis through a trade, from which the Mets acquired Zach Thorton and a player to be named later. The team has the big first baseman locked up for three years.

When asked about how Gaby Sanchez's role will change now that Davis is in the mix, Huntington feels it won't change a lot. He thinks that the signing gives Hurdle flexibility in certain situations.

"They both can do some damage against same side pitching, they just happen to do a lot of damage against opposite side pitching," he said.

He says that we saw a preview of that flexibility when Hurdle stuck with Davis late in the game against a right-handed pitcher.

Huntington says he feels like they have given up some good players to acquire Davis.

"We feel like we've added a legitimate left-handed threat to our lineup," he said.

He is asked about who the player to be named later could be as well.

"There's a list of players that they get a chance to scout," he said. "We gave up two nice pieces to get Ike Davis."

He is confident it was the right move at this time. Hunting talks about Davis getting the opportunity to move to a better situation and argues, "Ike's got a chance to play every day, which is more than he had in New York."

Huntington says that the signing could have a trickle down effect through the club's minor league system. He speaks to the depth of outfielders the franchise has and says, "it's going to be a tight fit."

He talked about Andrew Lambo too.

"First base will continue to be a learning process for him," he said.

However, they will begin to move him back to the outfield. Huntington is still confident in his potential.

"I just about guarantee Andrew Lambo will have an impact on this club," he said.

Huntington moved on to talk about the signing of Chris Stewart and the importance of having a strong defensive squad. Adding Stewart makes them, "one of the top catching tandems in baseball."

Huntington wrapped up the show by talking about how strong the National League Central is this year. He believes that there will be two Wild Card teams out of this division.

You can hear the entire show below:

Pirates GM Neal Huntington

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