Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported that Pirates general manager Neal Huntington turned down an opportunity to become the President of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco Giants, a job that eventually went to now former Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi. The report goes onto say he would have had the inside track on the job if he wanted it.
The reasons for Huntington not taking the job are mostly the normal things. Geography and family factors of not wanting to move the family and his life out west among the top reasons. However, also cited in reasons he elected to stay was unfinished business with the Pirates.
Huntington became the Pirates GM in 2007 and took over a mostly empty cupboard both on the MLB roster and in the prospect poll. He built them up into contenders by 2011 (before a collapse plagued them in both 2011 and 2012) and saw his team reach the playoffs each year from 2013-2015, including the league’s second best record in 2015. They haven’t been to the playoffs since, but they’ve sniffed around contention come late August or later every year since 2012 and got into August in contention in 2011 at least.
But the unfinished business stuff particularly intrigues me. It is quite odd for a general manager of a small market club to not want to become a President of Baseball Operations with one of the big boys of the league. It’s an opportunity almost too golden to pass up, even with family matters at hand. Heck, look at the guy that took the job. He left the sunny side of the Dodgers to earn a promotion with their biggest rival. It’s quite uncommon that jobs like this become available and not taking it is quite the risk. So my question is whether or not Neal Huntington has something up his sleeve for the Pirates.
In July, Huntington made two very bold moves, by Pirates standards, to get Chris Archer and Keone Kela. These are atypical moves for the usually conservative Huntington. Whether it signals a change in philosophy for the Pirates remains to be seen, but it might all just piecing together.
It is possible that more aggressiveness could be on the horizon from Huntington as his desire to complete unfinished business in Pittsburgh, a goal he’s been pursuing for going on 12 years now, might be greater than ever. Turning down the sheer opportunity to be the head man in charge of the moves of the baseball team by the bay is approaching stupidity in its own right. Perhaps now he feels a greater desire than ever before to prove he can do it for the Pirates instead of take the easy way out that San Francisco was offering him. He also might now feel a greater need to justify his decision to remain in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future.
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