Neal Huntington is not quite ready to declare the Pirates buyers or sellers with the July 31 trade deadline approaching, but he's hoping his club makes that decision easy.
Speaking to the media prior to Sunday's game against the Giants at PNC Park, a 5-3 loss that gave last-place San Francisco a three-game sweep, the general manager said he needs to see improvement over the next three weeks.
"That’s where we’d like to turn one of these 5-5 stretches into an 8-2 stretch," Huntington said. "Our starting pitching this month is among the top 10 in productivity. Our bullpen has taken on water at times, but then you see the positives. Our offense just continues to show up. We’re going to add an All-Star caliber player here over the last couple weeks of the month. We’ve got some young players who seem to be turning the corner. There are opportunities to get better."
Huntington's All-Star reference, of course, was to Starling Marté, who is due back July 18 after being suspended 80 games for steroid use. Adding Marté will allow Clint Hurdle to either shift Adam Frazier or David Freese to a bench role, which is a substantial improvement over infielder Max Moroff, a rookie infielder who is batting .083.
With Jung Ho Kang's status uncertain, Huntington could pursue an additional bench bat or could possibly add to the bullpen, which has struggled as of late with Wade LeBlanc regressing back to his career averages and opponents batting .429 against Antonio Bastardo.
The Pirates could also choose to pursue a veteran starting pitcher, but Chad Kuhl's latest strong start and the emergence of Trevor Williams makes that unlikely at the moment given the expected asking price, high demand around the league and the presence of Tyler Glasnow and Steven Brault in Triple-A.
"What cost and where are the availabilities at this point in time? That becomes a challenge. We’d love nothing more to go — for the seventh straight year — make this club better," Huntington said.
Huntington didn't exactly make his club better at the deadline last season and acknowledged as much. He traded Francisco Liriano, catcher Reese McGuire and outfielder Harold Ramirez to the Blue Jays for pitcher Drew Hutchison. Hutchison made one start for the Pirates and five relief appearances last season for a 5.56 ERA in 11 1/3 innings.
The right-hander could have an impact this season, though, as he has a 3.26 ERA in 14 starts for Triple-A Indianapolis.
The Pirates also traded Mark Melancon the Nationals for Felipe Rivero and starting pitcher Taylor Hearn, who is having a strong season at High-A Bradenton. Rivero, of course, is an All-Star candidate and has the second-lowest ERA among major league relievers (0.79).
"We get that we were better at the end of August and then had a tough September, so it makes it obvious that we got worse after the trade deadline but the reality is we didn’t," Huntington said. "We held serve and were in a position to make a run in September and injuries took us out. We’d much rather be on the inside than the out with the sole intent to add. We need to do some things to get in that position."
The Pirates failed to do so this weekend against the Giants, who entered Sunday 19 games under .500 and 23 games back in the West Division. They dropped the first two games of the series, but redemption may await in Philadelphia, where they play the Phillies in a four-game series starting Monday.
Entering Sunday, the Phillies were 26-53, 20 games back in the East, and among the worst teams in baseball in every offensive category.
Here are more notes from Huntington's meeting with reporters:
• Speaking of Bastardo, it's clear his time is running out with the Pirates. He spent the maximum 30 days on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Indianapolis, where his fastball dipped to 88-mph.
He walked the only batter he faced Friday night, and was charged for a run when Jhan Mariñez allowed a double to Buster Posey. Huntington is going to wait for Hurdle to give Bastardo some more opportunities on the mound, but he must show signs of improvement soon.
"We do think there’s still an opportunity for him to help us, but we do need to see some positive signs from him at the major-league level when he does get into games," Huntington said.
• Luis Escobar, a 21-year-old starting pitcher from Colombia, was chosen by the Pirates to participate in the Futures Game during All-Star festivities in Miami on July 9 at Marlins Park.
Escobar has a 6-3 record with a 4.77 ERA in 14 starts for the West Virginia Power this season, striking out 97 and walking 31 in 71 2/3 innings.
Major League Baseball gave the Pirates a list of their prospects to send to the showcase event and they decided Escobar would benefit from facing other top prospects on that stage.
"It’s a guy with weapons that has a quality breaking ball that he can create swings and misses with," Huntington said. "The changeup is developing. The fastball has power to it, but like most young pitchers the command of the fastball with power isn’t where we need it to be. The delivery repeatability, but there’s a lot of things to like with this young man. We’ll continue to develop the changeup, continue to develop the fastball command and repeatability, and that’s a young man who can find himself as a major league starting pitcher for years."
• Still no word on Kang. The Pirates are waiting for word, but in the meantime, the third baseman continues to work out in preparation for a possible return.
"He’s still working out," Huntington said. "The hope is that we’re going to get a decision that’s in our favor at some point and then we need to be ready to go. We need to be ready to hit the ground running once that happens. Yes, he continues to work out and has stayed relatively positive throughout the process, but also recognizes that there’s a cause and he’s the reason we’re in this situation and wants to make amends. Wants to be in position to make amends."