Neal Huntington Rumors

Mientkiewicz Believes Return To Pirates Unlikely

By Ben Jones [January 14, 2009 at 3:08pm CST]

WEDNESDAY: Dejan Kovacevic talked to Huntington, who "blamed Mientkiewicz's lingering frustration with the team's lack of communication on Mientkiewicz's now-former agent." Huntington said the door remains open for Minky.

MONDAY: First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com that he doubts he'll return to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization this season.

According to Mientkiewicz, the Pirates have not made an offer or any attempts to get in touch with him as the offseason has progressed. He has not spoken with general manager Neal Huntington or manager John Russell, a close friend of Mientkiewicz's, since the season ended, Langosch wrote.

Mientkiewicz, 35 in June, hit .277 with 30 RBI in 125 games. As a Pirate, he played some third base for the first time in his career.

Full Story | Comments (5) | Categories: Doug Mientkiewicz | Neal Huntington | Pittsburgh Pirates

Odds and Ends: Lane, Dodgers, Huntington

By Tim Dierkes [June 2, 2008 at 10:50am CST]

A collection of links to browse on this fine Monday.

Jason Lane can exercise an out clause if he's not promoted to the bigs today. The 31 year-old outfielder is hitting .248/.340/.485 with 11 home runs in 202 Triple A at-bats.
The Dodgers hope to acquire a veteran utility infielder as an insurance policy for Rafael Furcal. Any suggestions?
The Hardball Times' Mike Lee did an enjoyable interview with Pirates GM Neal Huntington. I have a feeling we'll get a better grasp on Huntington's trading abilities within the next few months.
CBSSports.com added Danny Knobler to their team. He's always been a good source for inside info on the Tigers.
RotoAuthority has waiver wire advice at every position.

Odds And Ends: Duncan, Mather, Huntington, Trachsel, Rusch

By Joe Pawlikowski [May 31, 2008 at 12:36pm CST]

A few notes to wrap up what I've come across this Saturday:

The Hardball Times has an interview with Pirates GM Neal Huntington. It's plenty long. He talks about the dynamics in dealing with his former team, the Cleveland Indians.
Steve Trachsel might be on his way out with the Orioles. Tough to argue against that move. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the O's are in the cellar, and might not climb out for the rest of 2008.
Chris Duncan down, Joe Mather up. Could Mather be the piece that rounds out a powerful outfield? Or could he be trade bait to bring back, say, a second baseman?
Glendon Rusch is back in the majors, having been recalled by the Rockies.

Posted by Joe Pawlikowski, who writes for River Ave. Blues, a Yankees blog, and can be reached here.

Neal Huntington To Helm Pirates

By Tim Dierkes [September 21, 2007 at 1:58pm CST]

According to John Perrotto of the Beaver County Times, the Pirates are likely to hire Neal Huntington as their next GM. Huntington is currently a special assistant to Mark Shapiro in Cleveland. Perrotto believes Huntington could be announced Monday.

Cory Humes of Pittsburgh Lumber Co. has been Googling his heart out to dig up more info on Huntington, so I refer you to him.

Huntington appears to love the scouting aspect of the game. There's a lot of good info and quotes from this 2005 Jerry Crasnick article, though it's behind the ESPN Insider wall. Paid content is dying...I'm waiting for ESPN to go the way of the New York Times and knock down the wall. No one is going to subscribe to ESPN to read this Huntington article, but if it was freely available they'd get a ton of traffic and make money off ads on it. And while I'm on my soapbox: pay-for-subscription websites shouldn't show ads to its subscribers.