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whygavs
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Nady Honestly, this isn't in response to any one rumor in particular, just the huge avalanche of guys the Pirates have shown interest in so far this winter. |
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El Duffo
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Still hilarious though. If you would've done this 3 years ago, the bit would have ended immediately after the words "This is Dave..." So it's a start. |
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MrMonte
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... Here's an "ideal Neil Hungington Press Conference" I posted on the Pirates board a couple days ago. It is in the same spirit as the Robocall. Enjoy! One thing I have to give our GM credit for is that he is often brutally honest about his plans. I think in his ideal world we’d see a press conference like this in about a month or so: Huntington: I am pleased to announce two free agent signings, Hank Blalock and Rick Ankiel. Neither fits into our long-term plans, but both were thrilled to sign under market value for the opportunity to revive their careers. Ankiel: That’s exactly right. I really was lousy last year so I chatted with my agent, Scott Boras, and we agreed that the only sensible thing for me to do was to take a pay cut and sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Blalock: I’ll second that. I had numerous opportunities to sign as a bench player. The Yankees and the Red Sox both offered me more money. But I talked to Scott and he agreed that it would be wrong for me to accept the substantial offers with those teams, when I had the opportunity to revive my career here in Pittsburgh. Ankiel: May I add, I also talked to Eric Hinske as I was making my decision. He talked quite a bit about how foolish he was to ask to leave Pittsburgh, where he was in the middle of reviving his career, and how horrible it was to play with the Yankees. I didn’t want to make that mistake just for the chance for some “playoff share” or something absurd like that. Blalock: That’s exactly right. I also talked to Jason Bay and he is also miserable. Ankiel: We know we’re no good anymore, so we really appreciate this opportunity. Blalock: What’s important to us is that, as Mr. Huntington made clear in negotiations leading to this day, we don’t block any youngsters. In fact, if there’s no interest on the trade market for me around June or so, my plan is to retire, in order to make sure that the youngsters have their opportunity. Ankiel: Me too! Huntington: I am so pleased to add these quality individuals to the team for three months or maybe less. As I’ve told them, they need to do well in order to increase their trade value – but not too well, because they can’t block any youngsters. Both understand the mission, and I am sure they’ll both have no trouble maintaining that balance. (Question from Press): Wasn’t it hard to convince Scott Boras to agree to this? From the players perspective, it doesn’t seem like the best option. Huntington: On the contrary. Scott was tickled to death that we would even consider his lousy clients. He actually insisted that they take less than our initial offer, and he declined a commission. My feeling is that this is directly due to the great relations we established with Mr. Boras in the immediate aftermath of the Alvarez signing. (Question from Press): How is the search going for bullpen help? Huntington: Exactly as planned. Every reliever on the market has been rated according to our proprietary system. Every single one that may cost a team more than $2 million has been signed. Now the market is turning to the second tier of relievers, those that may not be high priced but still have some value. Once those guys are signed, we’ll begin to consider entry into the market, when we can go after those borderline relievers who are looking for an opportunity to revive their careers. Ankiel: That’s a GREAT plan. I used to play for St. Louis, as you know, and they never did anything as logical as that. Sure they made the playoffs a lot, but did they win it?? I don’t think so! Money down the drain! (Question from Press): We’ve read reports that say that Mr. Connelly has authorized you to spend. Wouldn’t a couple really high quality relievers make sense? Huntington: That’s old think. That’s what got us in this mess in the first place. I’ve said many times that relievers are the least reliable to predict. We will not deviate from our plan. We will not deviate from our plan…we will not deviate…. |
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