GM does not regret Vazquez decision

MILWAUKEE — Let’s start by making this crystal clear: The most important thing here is the victim and her family.

But as the whole Felipe Vazquez situation from last week blew up, and got worse the next day when more details emerged, there became a baseball angle to this whole mess, too.

The All-Star closer was charged Tuesday with sex crimes in Florida and Westmoreland County. Vazquez admitted to police that he had sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl, according to a criminal complaint released Wednesday.

The Pirates fielded offers for Vazquez around the trade deadline in July but kept him, believing the return wasn’t good enough. Now they’re no longer going to get anything for him.

Asked Sunday whether he regrets not making a deal when he had one in front of him, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington — prefacing his answer appropriately — explained why he doesn’t regret the decision to keep Vazquez.

“While attempting to be completely sensitive to the severity of the issue and what this young girl and her family are going through and what has come out publicly; it’s awful,” Huntington said, speaking on Vazquez’s alleged crimes.

“Any decision can be second-guessed. Knowing the clubs that were interested, the prospects that they were not willing to trade for him, knowing what we believed was going to be the best return and knowing that it wasn’t close to what other similar players had returned — just like we’re taking criticism for not trading him now, we would have taken a ton of criticism for trading him then.”

It is believed that the Pirates wanted multiple top-tier prospects from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Vazquez. The Dodgers did not budge, and the deadline passed.

It’s turned into an unfortunate situation now, as it’s hard to imagine Vazquez pitching in a Major League Baseball game again. But it’s tough to crush the Pirates too much for holding strong on the deal, believing someone likely would give them premium return in the offseason for a player they controlled for several more years.

“Obviously, that’s not turned out to be a good decision, and we absolutely own that.”

Holding out hope

Huntington said the Pirates are not ready to shut down Josh Bell (left groin discomfort) and Starling Marte (left wrist).

Marte’s wrist has been feeling better, but the problem comes when he swings. With Bell, it’s a matter of building up strength.

“We may run out of days with them,” Huntington said. “But we want to honor that they want to fight their way back.”

Diaz update

Elias Diaz, who left the game Saturday against Milwaukee with a right knee injury when his spike got caught in the dirt while blocking a pitch, will be examined Monday. Huntington said the Pirates expect to know more about his situation in the next 24-48 hours.

“No obvious red flags,” Huntington said. “But we want to see how his symptoms play out over the next 24-48 hours, see if there’s more testing required and go from there.”

Changes?

Are there changes coming to the Pirates? That’s the million-dollar question for fans, and Huntington was asked Sunday whether he expected any changes to be made in the next week.

“We’re deep into the assessment, evaluation as to where we’ve been OK, where we’ve been good and where we need to get much better,” he said. “That process will continue through the end of the season.”