By Dejan Kovacevic | 2:01 p.m. Sunday
Excerpts from Neal Huntington's media gathering just now ...
> On who might play winter ball: "We had hopes that a lot more of our guys would be willing to go but, in this day and age, a lot less guys are willing. It's a shame. They're missing tremendous development opportunities. I'm not sure that I've heard anyone who went down there and performed say that it didn't help them. The guys who go down there with the wrong mentality and get sent home early, they hate it. They're the ones who come back with the bad stories."
> On which players are saying no: "Even some of our first-year players. I hate to sound like an old-timer, but a lot of these guys don't need the money that's down there. It shouldn't be about the money. It should be about the development."
> On Lynchburg's championship: "We don't truly measure our minor league success on the won-lost record because there are ways to hide that, by using older players or holding better younger players back. If you're a farm director and you're mandated to win, you can do it. But, when you do it the right way, when you scout and add talent to the organization, you have good development people, and the players execute, it is rewarding. We want our guys to understand how to win. We're trying to create that environment. When that umpire says, ‘Play ball,' our goal is to win that game."
> On whether the Pirates might non-tender Matt Capps: "That's an awfully tough question to answer because I'm in a no-win situation by addressing it. Matt's shown the signs to be a major league closer, and we've seen it here and there. The blown saves aren't nearly as bad as the ERA and the hits per innings. But we don't see injury. We don't see a falloff in stuff. We see a guy we believe can have a bounce-back year if he does the right things this offseason."
Posted
Sep 20 2009, 02:01 PM
by
Dejan Kovacevic