Afternoon notes: Kang, Alvarez

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Expressing a belief that the Pirates “don’t have time for just another day,” Clint Hurdle addressed the media for the first time Thursday following the first official workout for pitchers and catchers at Pirate City here.

“You can’t rest,” Hurdle said. “We’re not looking to maintain or sustain. We’re looking to get better. Our expectations are our expectations, not anybody else’s. We’ve got work to do. We want to play deeper. We want to play at the end. We want to win the last game of the season. That being said, we've got to start taking care of business today. This is a group that’s well aware of the fact we don’t have time to have just another day. We all talk to people and ask, ‘How are you doing today?’ They’ll say, ‘Just another day.’ We don’t have time for just another day. Elite organizations don’t have time for just another day. We’re out to work, scratch, claw, fight to get better.”

The highlights from Hurdle’s session with the press:

• Hurdle and Dave Jauss sat down with Jung Ho Kang and his interpreter, Jae Woon Han, today. “I'll probably bring him into my office about every other day, introduce him to a new coach, slowly break him in,” Hurdle said. We shared some thoughts, some philosophies, so we had a very nice session today.” The Pirates will work Kang primarily at shortstop to start, then transition him to third base -- both positions he has played. If those go well, they will try him at second.
• Kang’s last name, Hurdle said, is pronounced “Gung.”
• On Charlie Morton, who had late September surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip: “Charlie is on target. Charlie is not backing away from anything. Charlie is involved in all the drill work, he's throwing the sides. He's involved in every aspect of spring training.” Morton threw a bullpen session today, 34 pitches, and has said in the past that he is more aggressive with this rehab than when he had his left labrum repaired, an October 2011 procedure that caused him to miss the first two starts of next season. 
• The Pirates will restart Pedro Alvarez’s introduction to first base. “We're going to drop back, see what he's retained, continue to work from Day 1 to build a foundation defensively. Reps are going to be important. We'll probably be able to orchestrate some simulated games like we have for other guys in the past that have worked on position changes where you can incorporate with hitters and some runners a lot of live situations, as live as they can be without being a game, to add onto his workload.” Hurdle said the team feels Alvarez is healthy but will still monitor his workload during spring.
  
• Gregory Polanco’s 12 pounds of new muscle resulted from a plan the Pirates instituted after last season. “We had constant communication with him through the winter of the progression of his work, the strengthening. He's put on strength. We don't feel he's sacrificed speed. The strength is going to help him play at the major league level better. I think it will also help the duration, the durability, of a 162-game season. I do think him off his feet this winter playing is going to help as well.”