GM Huntington discusses injuries, prospects, and the trade market

OF Andrew Lambo (Matt Slocum/AP)

Pirates GM Neal Huntington spoke with media before the Pirates-Phillies game Sunday afternoon. Here’s a transcript from the conversation ...

Q: Is Andrew Lambo in witness protection?

A: "The plantar fasciitis injury is a really hard one. Some guys respond quickly and are able to come back. Andrew has had lingering pain and discomfort. We've continued to work with him on that. The worst thing you can do is try to push throw it, because then it's going to linger all year. He's disappointed. He wants nothing more than to be back here helping this club, but his foot is just not allowing it right now. ... Each day we build upon [his routine]. When it barks at him, we have to — not shut him down — but we have to slow him down. It's still pretty limited activity. He still feels it in daily life and as we try to push through. We're trying to keep the baseball activities going as best we can. A year ago when he got hurt we were able to do everything else. It was a very short rehab from the actual injury, because everything else was still going. It's a little harder with his foot than with his hand."

Any update on Tyler Glasnow (ankle)?

"Another guy that has checked all the boxes except the game one. We got him out in a game, he still felt the ankle, so we decided to go ahead and close things down completely to get the ankle as healthy as we can. He's now working back through his throwing program. Because we shut him down, even from throwing, there's going to be a longer time period to getting him back up again. He's going through a bullpen progression. Each step is building very positively; he's been great through it. But we just decided let's take it very slowly, take a deep breath and back off."

Is Jameson Taillon getting closer to pitching in real game action?

"He is. Another four-inning outing, 61 pitches yesterday. Everything went well. He felt great. He'd love nothing more than for us to ramp it up, yet he understands this is a long-term process and a long-term vision with him. He is getting closer to being able to pitch under the lights."

To what do you attribute Alan Hanson's recent success?

"A great month for Alan, a guy that can be an impact offensively because he can drive the ball to the gaps, he can be a tough out, he can be a threat on the bases. ... Developing at second base, making some very good strides there. We wanted to let him stay at second base to let the bat play, and the bat is playing better. We're also talking about a guy who the first three weeks of the season had his stuggles. So, great to see him progress. Still need to work on maximizing his strengths and minimizing his challenges. His one strength is he can barrel the baseball, which also leads him to expand the zone at times. Working with him to understand what he does well and what it means when he stays within the zone and how much damage he can do then."

How about Willy Garcia?

"Willy and Keon Broxton both probably deserved to go to [Class] AAA. The challenge is when you're a playoff-caliber team, you're looking to have depth options at AAA, and sometimes you block a prospect that may be ready to go to the next level. In Broxton's level, absolutely is ready to go to the next level. In Willy's case, we challenged him to command the zone better. He's been doing that. When he stays in the zone, he's a threat. He's got great bat speed, great power. When he makes pitchers come to him, he's going to do damage. The hitters that don't make pitchers come to them will be expoited as they advance. Willy is getting very close to being ready to take on that next challenge."

Do you have enough depth where you'd feel comfortable moving a regular position player for a long-term fit?

"That's a real vague, hypothetical question. Vague, hypothetical answer: Maybe. That tended to be the bigger moves last year — major-league player involvement versus the old prospect-for-established-major-league-player. It'll be interesting to see how this year plays out. There's not very many teams who are out of it at this point. There are a lot of teams in it. And there are even more teams that think they're in it at this point in time. We're working hard to be one of those teams that are in it, versus thinking they're in it. We'll see where the trade deadline takes us this year. A couple years ago, there was an argument that we had two legitimate holes that we had to fill, and we didn't at the trade deadline. We heard it a lot. We wanted to see how we would progress and where it would go from there. We were able to add [Marlon] Byrd and [Justin] Morneau. We gave up a lot to get Marlon Byrd, in hindsight, and we knew it the day we did it. Those are the types of trades that unravel an organization if you do them too frequently or you do too many of them. They unravel a small- or mid-market team very quickly. It will be interesting to see how the trade market plays out. We always want that balance between now and the future. We want to do everything we can to put this club in a position to make the playoffs this year, to win a World Series this year. At the same time, we want to be able to be in that same position as many years in the future as we can."

Have you had a sense that that was an aberration last year, or are we getting into a new MLB-player-for-MLB-player run?

"Another great question. We saw some of it coming. Some of them were unexpected. When you have more teams that are in it, and teams that are feeling pressure to be in it, it's harder to make the future acquisition. We understand that. It doesn't always pay off. Whereas if you trade for a major league player and he underachieves, at least he's a major league player. You trade for a premium prospect and he underachieves, you've got a premium prospect that underachieved in your minor-league system. So, it is a challenge. Where it goes? The benefit of having a deep major-league team is if there's a deal out there maybe we can add without subtracting. That's always a good thing. That's what a prospect trade always does, it adds without subtracting from your current major-league team. It seems like there are going to be more and more trades of fits versus teams moving veteran players to replenish the farm system to be able to make a run in the next year or two."

When has the market the last couple years started to define itself?

"This one sure looks like it's gonna be about July 30. ... I wish these markets existed when we were on the other side of it, when we were selling. It's an absolute seller's market again, at this point in time. Now, there may be a dozen teams that go on hot runs or cold runs and clarify some pictures, but there's a lot of teams right now that are within striking distance. There are some teams that are performing very well that weren't expected to be there. There were some teams that aren't performing as well that are expected to be there. We're not too far removed from teams being 9 games out on Sept. 1 and making the postseason. So, it's awfully tough to make those moves that take away from your major-league team unless you just feel like you're clearly out of it."

How close is Gerrit Cole to being a finished product?

"My hope is he's never a finished product in his mind. And that he's never a finished product in our minds. I don't think he will be. I think that's why the adjustments have come so quickly, his drive to be elite is special. He's always done the work to get better. There are still some things we can do. There are still some things he can do. That's what makes him so enjoyable and so much fun to think aobut where he can go. ... When you add to it the physical abilities that he's developed — people want to talk about gifts, but this man has worked hard to maximize his physical abilities. He also has the intellectual abilities to go with it. He's got the character to go with it, and he's got that drive. He's got a tremendous package of attributes that he gets the most out of on a daily basis. That's why it's come quickly, and that's probably what separates him. These guys are all elite. These guys are all special in some way, shape or form just to get to the big leagues. It's a very small group. That next tier is even smaller, and that elite tier, which Gerrit is working himself into, is that much rarer."

Is there a desire to get Corey Hart to be a bigger piece of the puzzle?

"The challenge of a deep and versatile club is there are options for the manager, and Jose Tabata has come up and done a really nice job. Corey is a regular that is trying to reestablish himself as a role player. There are some challenges that come with that. You add in the health issues. We haven't faced much left-handed pitching, let alone left-handed starters. Soit's been a challenge for Clint to get Corey opportunities, and it's been a challenge for Corey to get going. Certainly we were thinking we would get more, but at the same time I can completely understand why it's been a challenge for Corey. We've got some left-handed starters coming up. We'll see if there's an opportunity to get him a cluster of at-bats. We'll see if we can get him rolling and get him back to the player we thought was going to help us win some games."