Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Analyzing the Neil Huntington Era Part 1



Since it is a down time for the Pittsburgh Pirates after the Winter Meetings, knowing they won't be signing anyone of importance, I have decided to fill the time by looking at what Bucs GM Neil Huntington has accomplished throughout his tenure in Pittsburgh so far.

I know many of you have said I'm a Huntington apologist and am not critical enough of the job he has done, but I'm gonna break down everything and maybe either my mind will change or yours will, but I'm still at the point where I feel all the moves have been necessary and talent has been brought into the system.

Here is a rundown of what I will do.

Part 1- Huntington's Career.  basically his bio and where he came from
Part 2-  The Draft Picks - Looking at what NH has brought into the system through the draft
Part 3- The Signings -Looking at who NH has signed on the open market so far
Part 4- The Trades- Looking at and breaking down all of NH's trades so far

This part will be short.  Just giving you a quick background of where NH has come from until he took the Bucco's Gm job.  As far of his playing career, Nh was a second team D III All-American his senior season.  When he was hired, he became the fourth D III player hired as an MLB GM, following Josh Byrnes in Arizona, Bill Smith in Minnesota and Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees.  Those guys have had sucess, so there is no need to knock NH for playing at the D III level.

Upon breaking into baseball, the 40 year old Huntington is about to enter his 19th season in the game.  he broke in  with the Montreal Expos in 92 and soon became their Assistant Player Developement Director. He then joined the Cleveland Indians in 1998 as the Director of Player Developement.  he held this title for four seasons until he was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 2002. NH held that job until 2007 when he replaced Dave Littlefield as the General manager of your Pittsburgh Pirates.

As everyone knows by now, when NH got here, Littlefield pretty much left his a mess that needed cleaned up.  That is simply not a quick fix and many unpopular moves would need to be made.  I have had to opportunity to interview NH on a couple of occasions before and the man has a very good head for the game.  Hopefully his moves will pan out and he can get some money to play with or Huntington will eventually ffollow Littlefield out of Pittsburgh.

Feel free to express your opinions on NH the person.  We will look at the job he has done in the draft in Part II of this, which I will post in a few days.

10 comments:

  1. look forward to the anaylsis. i for one am not a fan of NH but i give him credit to what he has accomplished so far. getting quality prospects for what little talent he had to deal says something.

    he didn't exactly have a hallady to deal for top level guys

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  2. i give him credit to what he has accomplished so far. getting quality prospects for what little talent he had to deal says something.



    What are you talking about? what has he accomplished, except trading away the whole team for nothing

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  3. didn't have a halladay to deal. well he might not have but he had a wilson and a sanchez and a bay and a nady and didnt get a damn thing in return. 10 more years of losing. thanks NH

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  4. didn't have a halladay to deal. well he might not have but he had a wilson and a sanchez and a bay and a nady and didnt get a damn thing in return

    You are a bumbling idiot. that is what is wrong with most Pirates fans

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  5. You are a bumbling idiot. that is what is wrong with most Pirates fans

    Look in the mirror buddy. how am i the idiot? Your the one that is sold by these trades. nothing more than salary dumps

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  6. Look in the mirror buddy. how am i the idiot? Your the one that is sold by these trades. nothing more than salary dumps

    First of all doushebag, you compared wilson sanchez, bay and nady to roy freaking halladay.

    secondly, look at the deals. nady- a steal for us. solid starter in ohlendorff, good long guy in karstens, future starter in mccutchen and future superstar in tabata

    wilson- getting clement alone and dealing that awful contract would be good enough, but NH adds cedeno & 3 arms

    sanchez for alderson straight up. another win for NH

    bay- had huge yr last yr but andy laroche has been nice, still waiting to see on moss and hansen and breyan morris should be a future starter.

    As you casn see, NH has done very well. Do you even watch baseball or do you just whine and bitch about the Pirates always trade all their good players.

    Get your Facts straight jackass

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  7. anyone that thinks he isnt doing a good job is insane. to compare the organization as a hole now, compared to when he got here. he has added a ton of young talent

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  8. i know they are just rankings but does anyone know what the organization ranks now, compared to when NH arrived?

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  9. 2007 when he took the job, Baseball America ranked the Bucs 30th. 2009 after all the trades, baseball America ranks the Bucs 6th

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