Huntington Addresses State Of Pirates As Free Agency Begins

PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington joined "The Fan Morning Show" Thursday to talk about the team as the MLB free agency period gets underway.

Huntington explained what to expect out of new acquisition Francisco Cervelli.

"If he ends up being one of our options as a backup catcher for Russ, that's a great outcome," Huntington said. "If not, we feel that he's ready to step in and be a primary catcher, and we pair him with Chris Stewart, and we continue to have quality receivers, blockers, throwers, and game-callers to help our pitching staff."

Huntington said that the move does indicate the club has any negative feelings about Tony Sanchez.

"We're not ready to turn the reins over to Tony just yet," Huntington said. "We still like Tony. We still like the offense. There are elements of his defense we feel very comfortable with. There are other elements we're continuing to work through. The idea of moving him to first base isn't a 100 percent move. It's the idea of giving him some flexibility and some versatility."

As for the team's offseason as a whole, Huntington said to expect a payroll increase. However, he doesn't see the wisdom in committing to one.

"We fully anticipate, if the offseason goes as expected, that the payroll will increase. If it doesn't go as expected, and we feel the very best team we can put on the field comes in at a similar number or below, that's because we didn't want to spend money just simply to spend money," Huntington said. "I think that's what any good businessperson does is, or any person that has money. If you have $10 in your pocket and the owner wants $2 for a candy bar, you make a decision - do you want to pay $2 for the candy bar or not? This is real-world; this is not fantasy baseball."

He also cautioned against putting too much stock in non-monetary influences on free agents such as Russell Martin.

"Ninety percent of free agents choose the place where they get the most money," Huntington said. "Sometimes it's been here. Sometimes it hasn't."

Huntington did say that he'll be open to fielding trade offers for just about any of the Pirates' players this offseason.

"Other than perhaps Andrew [McCutchen], we'll listen on anybody," Huntington said.

He said that he made a mistake calling up Gregory Polanco when he did last year.

"We brought him up too early because of necessity," Huntington said. "I violated one of my own core covenants. We thought he was ready, but we still felt like there were some significant lessons that needed to be learned. When Neil Walker got hurt, we felt like we needed to take that shot, and in this case it didn't work out."

The interview can be heard here:

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