The Harsh Reality of being a Small-Market GM | Neal Huntington

Former Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington describes rebuilding in Pittsburgh and why market size is such a huge factor in team success in Major League Baseball.

-----------------
00:00 Intro
00:48 Current role with Guardians
01:57 Small market free agency
05:03 Tenure with Pirates
07:45 Hard reality, Bottom 5 payroll, Market size is real
10:50 Deficit Spending
13:34 Salary Cap/Floor?
15:44 Looking into the future
16:49 Dodgers spending spree
18:21 Cleveland vs Pittsburgs success
21:20 Huntington stopped Kratzs from making the show?
24:52 Outro
-----------------

Subscribe to the podcast!

Follow all our social media channels for more content!

[BaseballNum]

Great interview. Cleveland truly is the best small market team in baseball. I hope the Pirates rebound and find success this year. I believe Huntington is also one of the guys in charge of the Progressive Field renovations. That stadium is still one of the better ones in the league.

[mikejanacone]

Believe me as a hard-core pirate fan I had my beef with a lot of things. Neil did, but I always give him credit anytime we cross paths. He was very gracious and took time answer my concerns. That’s always bonus points in my book. Someone who takes the time to respect their fans

[mel-nqre]

As if it wasn't tough enough being with the Pittsburgh Pirates- a young collector who scored a one-of-a-kind Topps baseball card featuring National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes, has turned down a trade offer from the Pirates.
Topps announced Friday that the 11-year-old had declined the deal and instead was going to put the baseball card up for auction.
Pittsburgh had put together a package that included 30 years’ worth of season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park and the chance to play a softball game on the field in exchange for the card.
But to add insult to injury, the one-of-a-kind collector's card would happen to turn up in... yeah, Los Angeles... and what would someone in LA want with a 30 yr pass to games in Pittsburgh.
😄

[DavidYosten]

Revenue sharing isn't what people think it is. By the time the league takes it's cut, there is very little left over for the teams that receive it.

[ScottyBraun-FoulTerritory]

Good insight but this only further convinces me that Pirates ownership is a hot mess that shouldn't be in baseball

[Mephisto]

no sympathy for owners who won't open books to prove they are poor and pocket all the money they get from revenue sharing. If you can't compete, sell the team, take your profits and get out. Lot of excuses here.

[robertohernandez]

2023 was my first year as a Dodger season ticket holder, and I remember dodgers saving money that year, and they sold Turner, They where ready to go all out 2024

[acelm]

I do think there are levels to small-market success. Cleveland hasn't won a WS recently but they generally put a competitive product on the field. There's no reason the Pirates can't at least contend for the playoffs every few years, even if they'll never have LA money.

[dmiller]

Yet baseball has the least predictable champion each season compared to the other major sports.

[Themostjuanderful]

You guys think when he talking about Cleveland deficit spending one of the examples would be the Andre’s extension they gave him

[thomasanthony]

I refuse to watch MLB again until they get better revenue sharing and a salary cap. If they never do that then I’m never watching again. Baseball was always my favorite sport but I found other things to do on summer nights and I’m okay boycotting. F MLB.

[michaeldavies]

I thought Jeff Speigel’s explanation/ rant was very informative / interesting recently.
He went thru all the revenues mlb teams have including profit sharing / tv / local market
While small market / big market revenue is fully understood to be a huge variance.
Each team including small market could and should be spending upwards of $180 plus and still turn profit

I do feel a little uncomfortable about the constant Dodgers are buying a WS. Plus the constant abuse about deferrals.
But they are investing the deferrals up front which will not only give them the ability to pay when deferrals due but probably actually made quite a lot of money from the investment.

Love them or hate them the dodgers are extremely stable now and very well run.
As a fan, all I want is for my team to contend.
We had such bad years in the past thru McCourt era

[ronondechek]

Neal did great things for the Buccos for sure and won’t take that away from him, but he got fired for botching the firing of Hurdle and making one of the worst trades of all time with Archer.

[Matt-ojfy]

If you truly believe there is such an imbalance, you're a google search away from seeing the payrolls of each championship team and the number of repeat champions MLB has, but people would rather cry

[EdwardZupan]

And Scott will continue to say that owners have the money . When the people literally in the organizations say they don’t .

[EdwardZupan]

That’s Scott’s opinion that they can spend not the fans . The fans are firmly behind new collective bargaining, equal playing field for every team . The MLBPA ruined baseball ! Scott stop putting words in the fans mouths when it’s your opinion not ours

[douglascritchlow]

His farm system sucked he hired an incompetent assistant gm . I don't feel sorry for this guy

[seanragsdale]

Forgive me for not being able to take Neil seriously the way he handled the later years of his Pirates tenure

[cire]

I feel like he had to say all that bullshit because he works for the guardians. They get free money in revenue sharing. That’s why the A’s are spending the mlb pa was going to file a grievance against for pocketing the revenue sharing they were getting

[jerryharris]

Cap, minimum, and more revenue sharing between the teams. I don't care how much more popular the Yankees are, nobody's buying tickets or watching on TV to see them take infield. There's no game unless there's two teams playing. Their opponents need to get paid, too.