Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Analyzing Neal Huntington’s Comments
Frank Coonelly claims that he has gone through an exhaustive and thorough search process, interviewing candidates such as Jack Zduriencik and Tony LaCava and settling on Neal Huntington. Today, the long-awaited (okay, it’s been four days) hiring finally occurred and the next future of the franchise was set in motion. Huntington’s immediate comments had a new ring to them . . . they sounded as if the organization was finally willing to build through the farm system, at last.
Coonelly stated that Cleveland is very much like Pittsburgh and that the Indians have acquired players through the variety of methods, including Latin American signings, the draft, and trades, that the Pirates must begin to utilize in order to be successful. Unfortunately, the Pirates have no Bartolo Colon to trade for a Grady Sizemore.
The Ron Howard lookalike then took the mic, stating that a change in culture is necessary, a fact that every fan in the Pittsburgh area knows. Huntington played tool to the Nuttings a little bit, stating that the organization’s ability to win will not be dictated by its payroll but instead by its ability to succeed in the other areas. This probably means that the payroll will be trimmed dramatically in the next few seasons as resources are allocated to Latin America and bonus babies instead of the Jeromy Burnitzes and Matt Morrises of the world. It will be nice to have a winter where the team is not scrambling to make a last minute signing with the belief that spending excessive money on bad players will somehow indicate an effort to win.
Huntington also indicated that he believes he has the ability to retain players once they reach Pittsburgh, a commitment that I will believe when I see Andrew McCutchen asking for and receiving his six year $84 million contract in five years. This ownership is tight enough with money that I do not believe that they are willing to spend the cash in order to keep these players.
What will occur in the next few months will probably be a significant paring of money, as Sean Chacon, Tony Armas, and Cesar Izturis will probably be dumped or restructured while players like Jack Wilson will be thoroughly evaluated to determine whether or not they are living up to their contracts. This money will promptly be redistributed throughout the system in order to help develop the stagnating system into one that again has impact players at the top levels.
The keywords that Huntington murmered Tuesday? “Completely change.”
1 Comment
October 5th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Adam, I guess a clear representation of an individual does have much to do with who he looks like, or for that matter whom he acts like. I admit, Ron Howard has suffered since his whole hearted role as Opie, then Richie Cunningham. It ’s quite clear his good nature has been scared by such scandals as “Appolo 13″ ,”A Beautiful Mind” , and “The Divinci Code”. Pittsburgh has just been named one of America’s best places to live. I think good people do good things in a great city, and smart people can achieve greatness in the right culture. From what I have read and know about Mr. Huntington “Da” Pirates are in good comapany. I guess a guy who comes off as such a gentleman, might be considered an anomily on the horizon of sports today. But to qoute Daniel Burnham who helped to rebuild one midwestern city..”make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood”. I hope all Pirates agree. Go Bucs!
P.S. At least you don’t have to cheer the CUBS.
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