Neal Huntington: Pirates Have Been Active Daily On Waiver Wire

PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – Pirates general manager Neal Huntington joined The Fan Morning Show on Thursday to talk about last week's non-waiver trade deadline and what moves the team may be looking to make during the waiver trade period.

Huntington said the Pirates have remained active after the non-waiver trade deadline, although they haven't been able to pick up a player yet.

"I'm not sure there's a day that hasn't gone by that we haven't placed claims, and more often than not, multiple claims," Huntington said. "Some of the waiver claims aren't getting to us- they're getting claimed in front of us. Some of the guys that are getting to us are players that their club has no interest in moving."

When asked about whether or not the Pirates would have interest in a player like Marlon Byrd, Huntington said he is pretty content with what they have in the outfield now.

"We are still very optimistic that Gregory Polanco is going to be a terrific player for us- maybe not out of the gate what everybody expected he would be, at least outside of 115 Federal Street- but with Cutch, we'll see where he is, and then obviously getting Starling Marte back helps us quite a bit," Huntington said. "So we're not closed-minded to adding just the best bat we can, but at the same time, there are some things that just make it a little bit more difficult to acquire a guy, whether it's an acquisition cost, or guaranteed money on top of it."

He wouldn't have a problem with recalling Jose Tabata if need be, though, despite the fact that Tabata can't be sent down again without permission.

"We would feel very comfortable bringing him up at any point in time if we had the right situation and the right fit," Huntington said.

When it comes to Andrew McCutchen's injury, Huntington told the guys that it wasn't directly related to McCutchen being hit in the back by a pitch.

"From a medical standpoint, we've been told that they're isolated incidents," Huntington said. "The injury that Andrew suffered is a torque-based injury that came from the swing. It's not a contusion or an impact-type injury that could have resulted from him getting hit in the back. Now, his frustration, his desire to hit the ball really hard- did he overswing? Who knows."

The interview can be heard here:

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