Despite recently expressing a desire to have third baseman Pedro Alvarez play winter ball in Latin America, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said Monday he would understand and respect a contrary decision.

"We see both perspectives," Huntington said. "One perspective, which is a genuine and a legitimate one, is that he might be better to clear his head, should take a deep breath and come into spring training ready to go. There's the other perspective that it would be good for him to go down and get at-bats and try to salvage what has been a difficult year for him.

"We honestly do see it from both sides."

Alvarez Uncertain About Winter Ball

Pedro Alvarez will not play winter ball at the start of the season.

Whether he plays there at all this offseason is to be determined.

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said Tuesday the team felt it best to give Alvarez some time off to clear his head after a disappointing season.

"We've talked about it from a number of different angles and we've ultimately decided it's better for Pedro not to start the season in winter ball," Huntington said. "As we talked about it internally, we felt like it's best to just let him press the reset button. Let him get home. Let him get working on his strength and conditioning offseason program."

Huntington said that Alvarez, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, likely would be welcomed to his native team at any point, if he so chooses.

"But, if he doesn't, we fully expect that he's going to come into spring training ready to go mentally, physically, fundamentally to have a good season next year," Huntington said.

Alvarez described the decision as a "collective" one.

"We all made a decision that right now the best thing will be to get some rest and start working out to get ready for next year," he said. "As of right now, for the beginning part of the winter, I think I need to get my feet under myself and start getting ready for next year to come back in good baseball shape. If the situation presents itself where winter ball might be something later on in the winter, then we'll tackle it from there."

Alvarez said his ability to play later in the season is a "unique opportunity," but said he has not reached a decision.

"It's open," he said. "It's not definitive."