Tim Benz: Don't feel bad for Pirates GM Neal Huntington. He doesn't.

It wasn’t a conversation we meant to have. It just kind of wound up happening.

On a recent edition of the KDKA Sports Showdown, I was on the panel with Rich Walsh (KDKA-TV), Chris Mueller (93.7 The Fan), and Will Graves (Associated Press). And an overarching discussion about the Pirates boiled down to a fairly spirited debate about whether baseball fans should feel sorry for Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington.

You know, a guy who has been forced to compete with a limited budget and a thrifty owner for the last 12 years.

The next morning, I saw Huntington at the news conference to announce the signing of first-round pick Quinn Priester.

So I asked him.

Should we feel sorry for you because you are operating with a budget that allows for — at present — the fifth-smallest payroll in baseball at $76 million?

Or do you actually like that challenge? Does that demand somehow — strangely — become more intriguing to you?

“It’s all I’ve ever known,” Huntington replied. “It’s what gets me out of bed every day. To work with a bunch of amazing people to do something that no one thinks we can do.”

That “something” is winning a championship in a small market. And he’s right about that last part. I don’t know of anyone who thinks that the Pirates can win a World Series anytime soon, or maybe ever.

Unless, of course, they create more revenue, or spend more money, or both.

Yeah. I won’t hold my breath, either.

Here’s the thing on Huntington.

For as pleasant of a guy as he is to interact with and as easy as it would be for me to portray him as the “little engine that could,” I can’t.

Huntington is complicit. He’s part of the operation. He’s part of how things work within the business goals of the Pirates.

In other words, he willingly aids in Bob Nutting making his profits, even at the cost of trying to win more frequently than his team does.

Huntington could’ve left the franchise. He’d get another gig. The Pirates don’t have to be his last job as a Major League general manager.

What? You don’t think he’d get hired elsewhere? Poke your head out from your black-and-gold cave for a minute. Just about every other fan base thinks their own GM stinks, too.

Huntington would get another GM job in baseball very quickly. With next to nothing as a payroll, he was the guy in charge of baseball operations when the Pirates finally ended two decades of losing. He’s the guy who dumped Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen and finished over .500.

That’s how Huntington is viewed outside of Pittsburgh. No one outside of this region really cares — or remembers — Jon Niese for Neil Walker.

Yet he chooses to stay in a situation where he’ll probably never win a title, and frankly, will never have that expectation from his bosses.

Why? Because it’s safe? Because he loves the image of being David battling Goliaths in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago? Because he can’t get enough pierogi races in the fifth inning and “pup night” on Tuesdays?

“I’ve never worked for a big market team,” Huntington said. “The Expos, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. It’s all I’ve ever known. It’s part of what brings a thrill to the job.”

Did he say “thrill?” That doesn’t sound like someone who is looking for sympathy.

Or someone who should get it if he’s happy to punch a clock every day and hope to get five manageable innings out of Dario Agrazal instead of signing Dallas Keuchel while a big chunk of his Opening Day rotation is sitting on the injured list.

“I’ve been told by some of my big market counterparts to be careful what you wish for. When you have more money, you can make bigger mistakes,” Huntington said.

Sure. But the extra money allows you to buy your way out of those mistakes, too. See the Boston Red Sox, who spent about $190 million on Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval in 2015 only to finish in last place. By 2018 they had accumulated the likes of David Price, Craig Kimbrel, J.D. Martinez and Chris Sale, three more playoff bids and another World Series.

Please. Burden yourself with those “wishes,” Neal. For all of us.

Huntington acknowledges that he’s had interest from other clubs, but insists he wants to “accomplish the ultimate goal” here in Pittsburgh and said he’s not looking to go elsewhere.

Maybe that’s because if he gets paid handsomely to take another job, just scraping into a wild-card slot or barely finishing above .500 isn’t as worthy of the “atta boys” he gets here.

Or maybe he just gets his kicks out of running a microbrewery out of his garage instead of being the CEO of Budweiser.

Whatever the case, Huntington doesn’t need or want your pity.

Good. I’ll save it for the 11,000 a night who still care enough to buy tickets, thinking this team has a shot at the playoffs.