Hurlde chats with MLB Network

The Pirates new skipper Clint Hurdle chatted with the Analysis’s of MLB Network on Monday evening. Here are the things they discussed:

On his thoughts on being officially announced as Pirates manager: “I am humbled with another opportunity to manage in the major leagues with the traditional rich Pittsburgh Pirates. We all know the state here. We are well aware of the 18 consecutive seasons of sub .500 play. We have work to do, no doubt about it. But this opportunity to be a part of leadership with this group and turn this thing around. And reignite the fan base.”

On what the conversations (back-and-forth) between Hurdle and the Pirates ownership is like during interviews/what they discuss: “Well the questions I was asked was ‘why the interest level?’ I wanted to understand a little bit more about the situation, is there continuity from top to bottom. Is the mentality all mentality. I understand the skepticism of the fan base, the raw emotion that it has. It’s understandable, its factual.”

On pitching and payroll. “The payroll is one of the questions we talked about internally. There is money available to spend. Just because you have it, doesn’t mean you should spend it all. We want to spend it wisely. I think there are some keys to the pitching puzzle out there this winter that we will actively peruse. There is money available for Neal [Huntington] to go searching and to find the right fit. And probably extend themselves more than they have in the past.”

MLB Network analyst Barry Larkin brought up the question, “How do you change the mindset of losing every single year? They lost 105 games this year.”

Billy Ripken discussed his opinion: “I think that’s the first thing that Clint Hurdle is going to address is the mind set of the club. And let’s face it, I think that what Clint Hurdle brings to this mix is a positive attitude, he’s going to have some attention to detail and he’s going to be more of a front guy. But that only takes you so far. They’ve got some position players but until somebody gets out there on the bump, Clint Hurdle is going to be in a tough situation. His attitude is going to be key. I think that’s going to be good but you got to find someone on the bump that’s going to get people out.”