There are people who follow the Pirates who stoutly defend the record of general manager Neal Huntington in building successful bullpens and do so in the face of strong factual evidence that suggests otherwise. But there is probably not anyone who would even consider defending the way Huntington had built Pirates benches in his five seasons as GM.

That was never more evident than last year when not only did the Pirates open the season with a weak bench and not only did Huntington pretty much stand idly by as those reserves continually failed, but he actually weakened that bench at the trade deadline.

It was a classic study of a GM either too stubborn or too financially strapped to help his team.

There were two low points in the season.

* In mid-May the Pirates acquired Drew Sutton from Atlanta and immediately traded him to Tampa Bay, although he clearly was a  better choice than some of the players on the Pirates bench at the time.

* At the trade deadline, he dealt Casey McGehee to the New York Yankees for Chad Qualls (6.59 ERA with Pirates). Even if McGehee was to be phased out as a platoon first baseman by the acquisition of Gaby Sanchez -- and McGehee was having a better year at the time -- he was the team’s best pinch-hitter. He was 6-for-14 as a pinch-hitter when traded. Despite not being with the Pirates for the final two months, he still led them in most pinch-hits and most pinch-hit RBIs. Amazingly, Huntington traded a valuable bench player while his team was in contention for a playoff spot for a washed-up reliever.

Here’s how Huntington’s pinch-hitters have ranked among the 16 National League teams in six statistical categories in his five seasons as GM:

Year                      HR      RBI      BA     OBP      SLG     OPS

2008                      12        7        12       14        12        14
2009                      16      15          3         5          5         5
2010                       6       11        12       13          9        11
2011                      16      14        13       14         14       15
2012                      13      10        15       11         16       15

Of 30 possible categories, the Pirates finished in the top half of the league in six of them.

In case you're wondering what was in the water in 2009, Delwyn Young was 12-for-38 as a pinch-hitter, Ramon Vasquez 10-for-42 and Eric Hinske 8-for-24. Despite being just the kind of power bat a team would want on its bench, Hinske was traded at mid-season for two non-prospect minor leaguers.

The Pirates have made almost no attempt to strengthen their bench in the off-season. With Sanchez and backup catcher Michael McKenry holding down two of the five bench spots, there are three openings and none of the candidates, with the possible exception of Brandon Inge, represent an upgrade. Inge has a history of power, but the fact he could not land an MLB deal and signed a minor-league contract with the Pirates says a lot about what the rest of baseball thinks of him.

The fact Josh Harrison is all but guaranteed a bench spot also says a lot. Harrison is a feisty hustler. But defensively, he’s a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none and offensively his career batting line is .250/.280/.358. As a pinch-hitter in his two-year career, he’s 4-for-37 (.108).

Looks like more of the same from the Pirates bench.