The Pirates' new management is setting a price and sticking to it.

Team president Frank Coonelly, the man overseeing baseball operations, and general manager Neal Huntington, the man conducting them, have established a clear precedent in dealing with free agents this offseason: A dollar value for a player is formulated by the baseball staff based on market and performance analysis, and a contract agreement is reached only if the terms do not exceed that value.

So far, no exceptions.

"That's been the case with every one of the players where we made aggressive offers and didn't succeed," Coonelly said. "Our baseball people placed a value on these players, I agreed with the value and our people were not comfortable going over the initial value they placed."

Those cases include, but are not necessarily limited to, the Pirates' falling short in the free-agent bidding for catcher Johnny Estrada and relievers Luis Vizcaino, Ron Mahay and Jeremy Affeldt. With Estrada and Vizcaino, they were one of two finalists before the player chose the other team.

The only free-agent success was signing utility infielder Chris Gomez, a one-year deal worth $1 million that, by all accounts, involved minimal give and take.

A disciplined approach surely will help the Pirates keep their $50 million payroll free of the major mistakes in long-term contracts that damaged the franchise for much of this decade. But, as one agent put it recently, "They're trying to hit a home run with every deal they do, and it just doesn't work like that."

Coonelly acknowledged the Pirates must break their boundaries on occasion to succeed.

"Eventually, there will be a point in time when we need to go above our internal value," he said. "We'll determine that this player could be worth enough to us even if we pay 10 percent or 20 percent more. I understand the way the free-agent market operates. You have to take into account what the player's likely value is outside your market. But, even taking that into account, there has to be value to us."

He seized the line of questioning to reiterate the Pirates' top priority in acquiring talent.

"This is why it's so important for us to be developing our own premier players. This free-agent market ... until you get to this point in the offseason, you're paying a premium, something above a player's intrinsic value. We can't get into the habit of doing that. Our money can be better spent and will be better spent."

• Brad Lincoln, the Pirates' first-round pick in 2006, took a major step in his comeback from elbow surgery this week: He threw his first bullpen session Monday -- 25 pitches, all fastballs -- and gave every indication of being "ready to go" this season, director of player development Kyle Stark said.

• It was never announced, but Freddy Sanchez finished second in National League voting for the Gold Glove at second base. The voting, conducted by managers and coaches who are not allowed to pick their own players, resulted in Arizona's acrobatic Orlando Hudson finishing first. The remarkable aspect for Sanchez: It was his first year at the position, and he struggled early because of a spring knee injury.

• Reliever Damaso Marte did not pitch yesterday in the opener of the Caribbean World Series -- his Licey team beat Venezuela, 6-4, in Santiago, Dominican Republic -- and his status for the rest of the four-team tournament is uncertain because of lingering neck pain from his car accident Monday.

• Jose Bautista, playing center field for Licey, went 1 for 3 with a walk and a steal.

• Asked in the past week if he was over his concussion, shortstop Jack Wilson replied: "What?" Wilson, as fans at PNC Park for the penultimate game of 2007 will recall, banged heads with Matt Kata on a bouncer up the middle and left on a stretcher.

• Tickets for individual games, including the home opener, go on sale March 8.

• Only 11 days until pitchers and catchers report.