BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates general manager Neal Huntington reiterated that free-agent utilityman Doug Mientkiewicz still could be re-signed, insisting that all lines of communication remain open despite Mientkiewicz's expressed concerns to the contrary.

"We've been in touch with Doug's side from the beginning," Huntington said.

Mientkiewicz had been represented by Greg Landry, but he dismissed Landry this week and soon is expected to replace him with Steve Hilliard. Huntington estimated that he spoke with Landry a half-dozen times through December and, in an interview yesterday afternoon, called it standard procedure to deal with the agent rather than the player.

"It's very rare for a GM to talk directly to a player during the offseason. That's why they have agents," Huntington said. "Doug and I have had and continue to have a good relationship. When his agent [Landry] contacted me, I made the dangerous assumption that that was all I needed to do, just talk with the agent and the agent would update Doug on our conversation and our thoughts. And I thought I would get an accurate representation of Doug's thoughts from his agent."

Huntington later amended that comment to stress that he had no issue with Landry or his handling of Mientkiewicz.

"My point was that Doug had a feeling that we weren't communicating with him, and I wanted to emphasize the fact that we were. If he wanted it to be direct communication, then that's a miscommunication between us. I'll take responsibility for that."

In an attempt to clear the air, Huntington called Mientkiewicz directly Tuesday night.

Mientkiewicz has said several times since early December that he was worried about not hearing from the Pirates, interpreting that as a lack of interest. But he had no complaint yesterday, about the team or Huntington.

"We're good now," Mientkiewicz said.

He declined to elaborate on the switching of agents.

Neither the Pirates nor any team has made a contract offer to Mientkiewicz, 34, who batted .277 with 14 pinch-hits and almost instantly became one of the team's most popular players because of his fiery style.

"We haven't made a formal offer, but there's been dialogue," Huntington said.

Huntington reiterated his reasoning: Because the Pirates recently signed free-agent Ramon Vazquez, the at-bats that Mientkiewicz would have had by backing up at third base are gone. That leaves him as a backup at first or in the outfield, where all of the current starters, like him, are left-handed.

"Right now, the opportunity that we have to offer Doug isn't what he's looking for," Huntington said. "He's still looking for more playing time. As a result, there hasn't been a fit yet. But the door is still open. Doug is going to evaluate his best fit. We're going to evaluate the makeup of our bench. There still can be a match."

Mientkiewicz's view?

"We'll see what happens," he said. "I know that I can make a difference there, and it doesn't matter what side I hit from if, eventually, you have to sit people against a tough lefty, anyway. I can hit lefties."

He batted .250 vs. lefties, .283 vs. righties last season.

"I just know that, when you've got kids going out there every day, they're going to need a break. I think I proved last year what I can do coming off a bench."