Steelers/NFL
TIOPS Inside Buzz
Pirates GM Neal Huntington knew he was going to be taking some heat this evening following the trade of Francisco Liriano, along with Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire.
“We fully recognize we’ve given up two quality prospects,” Huntington said during a conference call with the media. “We feel like we dealt from a position of organizational depth.”
What was clear from Huntington’s comments tonight is that without him actually saying it — is the involvement of McGuire and Ramirez opened the door for the Pirates to dump Liriano’s salary on the Blue Jays —
“Our goal in trading Ramirez and McGuire was to acquire Drew Hutchison,” Huntington said of the acquisition.
Huntington, as expected, also said ownership gave no mandate to unload salary.
“This was all our choice to create some financial flexibility to keep this club competitive while adding to our future,” said Huntington.
Surprisingly Huntington didn’t talk glowingly about Hutchison to the extent that I expected him to based on the cost of Ramirez and McGuire.
The Pirates plan moving forward is for Hutchison to spend the rest of the minor league season in Triple-A than be an option in September for the Pirates, though, the Pirates eye is on Hutchison hopefully being in the rotation for 2017.
“We feel he can step right into our rotation next year,” Huntington said.
He better be from the standpoint that he turns 26 years old in August.
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Huntington indicated that the rotation will now consist of Gerrit Cole, Ivan Nova, Jameson Taillon and Ryan Vogelsong. The fifth starter is going to be a revolving door.
It’s interesting how Vogelsong has suddenly played his way into being a lock in the rotation.
Another potentially questionable move to block a young starter from getting needed experience down the stretch when you have the likes of Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault and Tyler Glasnow (progressing from injury) in the minors.
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Talk coming out of the organization today is the tentative plan is for Josh Bell to finish the season in Triple-A before coming up to the Majors. Have a hard time believing it but that’s the word at this point. Still think he comes up sooner than later with the Pirates needing some good PR.
— With Jon Niese being shipped back to the Mets, as expected Huntington was asked about any regrets of trading Neil Walker.
“In hindsight it doesn’t look like the right call,” Huntington said, while coming to his own defense saying “the players we could have gotten for Neil in the off-season (other teams), no one would have been thrilled by them.”
Instead of acquiring Niese, One return from the Mets would have netted the Pirates a mid-tier and lower tier prospect. It’s believed Baltimore was offering a similar prospect type offer.
The Walker situation has become a debacle because in 2014 the two sides weren’t that far apart from a three year extension. Don’t blame Huntington on that one. s
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Steelers Camp Buzz (Monday Notes)
— The good news for the Steelers is Senquez Golson didn’t reinjure his surgically repaired shoulder. The bad news is Golson’s injured again.
This time he has a mid-foot injury that saw him carted off and was scheduled to have an MRI tonight.
Rookie Sean Davis moved into the slot today like he did much of OTA’s when Golson was sidelined.
When it comes to the Steelers top two picks, it’s night and day on how much more NFL ready Sean Davis is than Artie Burns.
Antonio Brown is having fun in making life miserable for Burns through four practices. Brown torched Burns all day again and Darrius Heyward-Bey [hide] blew by Burns for a 40 yard+ catch during 7 on 7 drills. Burns has had difficulties covering and the biggest issue for him has been against the run where he’s getting pushed back far too easily.
Asked about Sean Davis following today’s workout, Mike Tomlin gave a Mike Tomlin type response…..
“Nothing really that stands out,” Tomlin said of Davis. “He’s a good young guy.”
— Rookie D-lineman Javon Hargrave continues to flash a combination of power and athleticism. Has been really impressive in one-on-one drills, and had a field day against Cody Wallace. It’s early but he’s a player coaches feel could contribute early.
— Two standouts in camp at linebacker have been Anthony Chickillo and L.J. Fort. Chickillo who has two interceptions during drills so far, looks to have improved footwork when rushing from the outside. Joey Porter impact there. Chickillo beat Alejandro Villanueva twice in 1-on-1 drills.
— Sammie Coates rebounded well today after a struggle in Sunday’s workout (Coates was great on Saturday). 2015 4th round pick Doran Grant was no match in covering. In his second NFL camp, Grant has a ways to go in proving he can be an NFL caliber cornerback down the road. —
— Art Rooney II said on Steelers Nation Radio today the team has a couple contracts they expect to take care of in regards to possible extensions. We’re told Steelers remain very confident that a deal will get finalized with David DeCastro and the team is going to try to find common ground on an extension for Lawrence Timmons. —
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There’s no denying the trade deadline deals were not good deals but I think people are blowing them out of proportion because of their prospect rankings which are about as unexact of a science as their is, just because a player ranks on the higher side of a teams prospect rankings doesn’t mean that player carries value with other teams. Truth to told, I’m much more upset with losing Ramirez than I am losing McGuire who I think will have a hard time cracking the majors as an everyday starter being a defense-only catcher which is what he’s going to… Read more »
So – you don’t see the two of them as netting “much more than what they got…” All they were going to get was a middle 20 something jagaloon who’s probably a Quad A pitcher? They couldn’t have got you more than that? I’ll respectfully disagree. Honestly, again, the real problem you run into here is the hypocrisy – for years upon years, Huntington made the argument that they weren’t trading prospects to win today, because he wanted to keep the team competitive in teh long run. Now comes the truism that is, they’re willing to part with those prospects… Read more »
jagaloon. well done.
I guess it would have made more sense had I said they weren’t landing a true difference maker with McGuire/Ramirez as opposed to saying they wouldn’t get much more since the word much is undefined. I also get your point about the hypocrisy but I guess I don’t see it that way because I don’t see the prospects moved as being pieces that were going to help keep them competitive because Ramirez was never going to have a spot in the OF and I don’t think McGuire is going to be anything more than Erik Kratz. I guess I see… Read more »
Well, Hutchison sucks, and I won’t even go into that – and you’re right – those two alone probably don’t net you a guy – but combined with other players, certainly could have. As opposed to netting them money so they could pay their shareholders a f’ing dividend.
I think Hutchinson will fair well in the NL
My cousin from Quebec Came last night and said he hates Moose and tim horton’s but is a canadien all the way he only roots for looser franchises no matter what
and he said man you guys are much straighter here then the people’s republic of canuckistan i said what you mean in the people’s republic of cunuckistan people are Gayer
so this is coming from a canadien ha!
Your cousin is from Quebec he like sam do not matter
^This, PQ is barely Canada… it’s a frightened promise that thinks the English are coming and have since the Quebec born Prime-Minster recovered the BNA-act which essentially made us a sovereign nation. Only in Quebec will you find people that distrust one of their own for bringing the constitution out of the hands of the English and into the hands of the country itself. LOL PQ
HA… just seen the sam post… I apologize for rationalizing this although my slight at PQ stands
frightened *PROVINCE
My cousin from Wisconsin Came last night and said he hates Hilary and trump but is a republican all the way he only votes for republicans no matter what
and he said man you guys are much smaller here then the states i said what u mean in the states people are Fatter
so this is coming from an american ha!
TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! Sorry Stan but your food stamps will be cut back. Finally someone that puts America first and cares more about the troops/veterans than illegals
You realize that I have a watch that probably costs more than whatever car you’re driving around in, right?
LMAO. You realize the rolex you got from a street vendor in New York is fake, right?
LMAO. I should have inquired of the guy walking through Port Vue in velcro shoes.
Ohhhhh, so you live in port vue? That’s not much better than McKeesport
Like I said – you’re worse than sam at this.
How? You cant say anything except mckeesport and velcro shoes. I know you’re a liberal so hypocrisy is expected.
Where did a white trash piece of shit like you get the impression that I’m a liberal, exactly?
don’t complain about food stamps. they are the “keep the streets looking like india where you have kids begging for food on the street” tax.
This is a pretty decent read:
http://www.bucsdugout.com/2016/8/2/12348320/on-the-pirates-disastrous-francisco-liriano-trade?_ga=1.64801071.1284038422.1469767702
So, after having a night’s sleep to digest – what do y’all love more – the trade where they gave up two top prospects to save a few dollars, or the other trade, which ultimately ended in them trading Neil Walker for relief pitcher they already chose not to re-sign? Go.
4 more months til Obama is out of office and Trump is in. #WOOOOOOOOOOO
December 2? Thats new.
That’s pretty good. They don’t have calendars in McKeesport. #AndersLee
Welfare king/2001 audi/ section 8 all star….stan the man
You’re about as good at this as sam is.
I thought it was a infiniti 2001
Top prospects: Can be used to dump salary, but not get talent.
That’s right. For years we were told they won’t trade talent to get high end return because they wanted to remain relevant for an extended period of time. But now, the truth ends up that high end prospects are stockpiled to trade away for cash savings. This team steals from its fan base.
NH sounds like he’s at yoda level fraudulence.
I wonder if Cutch is gone this offseason
He shoudl be because he’s losing his skills are declining and he won’t sign, again, in Pittsburgh. So they need to get something for him.
That actually might not be such a bad thing right now.
They aren’t going to pay him. He’s gone.
He should be. Only way they can compete. They’ve proven they can barely afford to make payroll even when he’s on a sweetheart deal.
The pens won the cup with st bleury on the bench….and I looooooooooove it!
You said they couldn’t win. After he was already on the bench. You also made an excuse for every shit goal Murray let in. You’re a fraud. And I loooooooooove it!
http://i.giphy.com/11ocEaLDZafNHa.gif