A new GM is rebuilding the Pirates from top to bottom

Pirates manager John Russell (left) and GM Neal Huntington have a massive rebuilding job ahead of them in Pittsburgh. AP

BRADENTON, Fla. -- I am ready to run through an outfield wall for Neal Huntington. I'm ready to jump over the Monongahela and the Allegheny and whatever the third one of those rivers is in Pittsburgh. I believe, I tell you, in the Pirates and what Huntington, their new general manager, is trying to do.

Listen to the man. He's giving it to us straight. He's not sugarcoating a thing. He warns that some bad patches probably lie ahead for the Pirates. It's very likely, for example, that he might have to make some trades this year that will have fans screaming in the street.

The Pirates need fixing -- major fixing -- and Huntington is here to do what it takes. So far, he's walking the walk and talking the talk.

So, OK, maybe we've heard this before. Certainly the Pirates have said it before. But this spring is different. There's a feeling of optimism in Pirates' camp this spring. Really.

Are you listening, Pittsburgh? Neal Huntington is trying to bring you a winner. Eventually, anyway.

"We know that they've heard the message before. Every team comes out and says the same thing," says Huntington, leaning against a railing on McKechnie Field, spring home of the Pirates since 1969. "It's our hope that they begin to see it on the field. It's not going to happen overnight. We're dealing with 20 years of ...," he pauses, looking for just the right word, "... nature here.

"But hopefully it's going to show signs of progression. We're going to take incremental steps."

That's how it is this spring for the Pirates. Hope again, of a different flavor. The team has a new president, a new GM and a new manager. They are all trying to dislodge a franchise that has been mired in the Three Rivers mud since 1992. That was the last winning season the Pirates had. That was the last time they made the playoffs. That was the last time they mattered.

Can they do it? Can the nurturing ways of new leadership overcome the inert nature of the Pirates? Or is this just the same old song and stumble, one that has put the Bucs in the losing column for 15 straight seasons, one shy of the big-league record?

Listen to Huntington, the 38-year-old rookie GM. He'll make you believe. He talks of an attention to detail, a build-up from the lower levels of this lowly franchise, a commitment to doing things the right way. It's not a shot at how other GMs in this long losing streak have done things -- Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield couldn't do the job -- but it isn't an endorsement, either.

"We're very careful not to bash the past because they tried. I respect all of those guys. They worked really hard to do the best that they could," Huntington says. "But there is no question that we're trying to go about it in a different way."

The new regime has been working feverishly since taking over this offseason. The Pirates opened an academy in the Dominican Republic to try to get their hands on some good, cheap talent. They have added at least five full-time scouts. They have revamped their minor-league nutritional program. They have completely revised how they use video to scout and develop players. They're in the process of working on a way to amass, digest and utilize whole books of new statistics, and they have an eye toward finding a proprietary way of using stats -- maybe some of their own devising -- to evaluate players, something that has made Huntington a hero to the stat-minded community.

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