Pirates GM would take prospects instead of Niese 'in hindsight'

If Jon Niese is looking for a vote of confidence from Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, he's going to have to keep waiting.

During a radio interview Friday morning, Huntington had some rather candid remarks about the struggling southpaw, who he acquired from the New York Mets over the winter for popular second baseman Neil Walker. Niese hasn't worked out in Pittsburgh, and Huntington's comments - coming amid reports that he's currently shopping Niese - indicated he may be wishing for a reboot button.

"In hindsight, maybe the two fringe prospects and trying to figure out where to re-allocate the money might have been a better return (for Walker)," Huntington told 93.7 The Fan's morning show. "That's where the results take us."

The Pirates were looking for Niese to serve as a dependable left-handed arm at the back of the rotation. Instead, the 29-year-old posted a career-worst 5.13 ERA and 1.574 WHIP, while leading the NL in wild pitches as part of a rotation that's struggled throughout the year. Although his ground-ball rate of 53.3 percent remains steady with his career norms, Niese's home run-fly ball ratio ballooned from 14.3 percent last year to 22.7.

Related - Report: Pirates shopping Locke, Niese to make room for Glasnow

Though his hindsight vision might be moving closer to 20/20, Huntington insisted acquiring Niese for Walker made sense for the Pirates at that time.

"Given the thinness of the starting pitching market, given the dollars that we had available, we felt that that was our best return, and it has not played out that way," Huntington said. "And that's a challenge, we own that, we accept that.

"At the time Jon was one of the better starting pitchers available on the market given what we typically can do in this revenue stream, and that's the reality."

Though Huntington didn't directly address the rumors surrounding Niese, he did hint at work being done behind the scenes so he can be an effective arm down the stretch.

"There's some things we're working (on) to try to help Jon, (and) he's working on some things at the same time," Huntington said. "We'll continue to push forward with him and then see how he can continue to help this club."