There was plenty of excitement, it seemed, tied to the Pirates selecting Pedro Alvarez, the strapping Vanderbilt University third baseman, with the No. 2 overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft yesterday.

In the team's war room at PNC Park, after debating the pick until the wee hours of the previous night, the consensus that finally was reached came with a palpable confidence.

"We're very excited about this player," general manager Neal Huntington would say later.

In the nearby Hall of Fame club, where a group of 125 season-ticket holders were invited to watch the event on TV, broke out into what one observer called "great applause." Many of those folks later took turns congratulating Huntington, team president Frank Coonelly and owner Bob Nutting when they stopped by.

Meanwhile, in a steaming apartment in upper Manhattan jammed with 28 of Alvarez's family and friends, according to a New York Times reporter on the scene, pandemonium erupted as his name was called. His father, Pedro Sr., wept.

"I think we almost broke the floor when we jumped up," Alvarez recalled with a laugh, speaking by phone. "It's a surreal moment to be here with all these people who mean so much to me."

To be sure, the potentially dynamic melding of Alvarez, No. 1 in Baseball America's final pre-draft rankings, with the Pirates' long-standing lack of impact talent merits legitimate excitement. It is a feast for the famished.

And yet, there is one tempering factor to all this: The Pirates must sign him.

The money

All draft picks must be signed by 11 p.m. Aug. 15, or the team is left with a compensation pick for the following year, and the player re-enters the draft pool. In the Pirates' case, the pick would be No. 3 or 4. In Alvarez's case, he could go back to Vanderbilt for a senior year.

Alvarez is represented by super-agent Scott Boras, which invariably means an extended negotiation aimed at breaking precedents and breaking the bank. Boras has not commented publicly on Alvarez, but the buzz through the industry is that he will seek a signing bonus in excess of $7 million, as well as a major league contract that could push the guaranteed money into eight figures.

No talks were permitted to take place before the draft, but Huntington said they would begin "sooner rather than later," and there appeared to be a quiet confidence in the front office that a deal can be struck.

"Yes, we're confident," Coonelly said. "We believe Pedro will be a Pittsburgh Pirate."

Huntington said that, in the right circumstance, the major league contract "isn't an issue," and that could be because Alvarez's projected fast track: Some see him as reaching Pittsburgh by 2010, or even late next year. But the massive amount of money involved could extend the process to the last minute.

"Negotiations aren't going to be easy," Huntington said. "But it is our belief that Pedro wants to be a major league player and realizes that, as Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki and Evan Longoria before him, they've gotten on the field that summer and been in the big leagues within 24 months. Could that happen in this case? I don't know. But there's certainly a good track record."

All four of those cited players signed within 10 days of being drafted.

Alvarez sounded eager to change the subject when asked about his signability.

"I can't even think about that right now," he said. "I need to sit down with my parents and advisors. I'm just trying to take everything in. All I know right now is that it's a privilege and an honor to be drafted by the Pirates."

And would he want, as Huntington suggested, to play professional baseball as soon as possible this summer?

"Again, this is the first step of a long process. That will be taken care of when it comes."

The Pirates' negotiating team will be led by Coonelly, who, in his previous job as MLB's chief legal counsel, was responsible for enforcing commissioner Bud Selig's recommended signing bonuses -- a process called slotting -- but who has declared many times that, if the team deems it appropriate, the slotting will be exceeded.

Under previous management, the Pirates almost never exceeded the slotting, even in the first round. That was true last year, when it signed reliever Danny Moskos, the No. 4 overall pick to exactly the recommended $2.475 million, after bypassing a Boras client in catcher Matt Wieters.

That move, by all accounts, was made as a baseball decision by former general manager Dave Littlefield and his staff, but it reverberates to this day in lingering doubts about ownership's commitment to winning.

"We said when we came in that we wanted to build this strong foundation from within, and the draft is one of the principal avenues," Coonelly said.

With the No. 1 pick, Tampa Bay selected Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham, who had been one of the Pirates' three finalists, along with Alvarez and Florida State University catcher Buster Posey. The Rays' finalists were down to Beckham and Posey, but Posey's contract demands -- $12 million in guaranteed money -- deterred them.

The player

Alvarez, 21, is a 6-foot-2, 212-pound left-handed power hitter who, in his first three collegiate seasons, batted .349 with 49 home runs. This season, which ended for Vanderbilt with an NCAA regional loss Sunday, he lost six weeks to a broken hamate bone in his right hand and, upon returning April 3, batted .317 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs in 40 games.

The hook of the hamate bone was removed, so no complications are anticipated. Still, the procedure itself, especially in midseason, is known to temporarily sap a hitter's power.

"I couldn't work out when I was hurt, so it's natural to lose some strength," Alvarez said. "But it's easy to gain it again."

The Pirates had reports on Alvarez dating back to his time at a New York high school, and they spent what scouting director Greg Smith called an "exhaustive" amount of time with him in the past year.

Without question, it was the sweet swing, one delivered from a stance reminiscent of Chipper Jones, that they liked best.

"The ball comes off the bat very well," Smith said. "He takes a professional approach, uses the whole field. You watch him take batting practice, and he works to left, left-center, across the field. He's an advanced college hitter. Obviously, with the injury, he had some timing issues trying to get back. But we like his potential offensively."

Defensively, Huntington and Smith each expressed confidence that he will remain a third baseman in the majors, despite some projections that he would have to move to first.

"A major league third baseman has to have soft hands, athletic feet, the ability to make the throw across the diamond," Huntington said. "Pedro has all of those abilities and, more important, he wants to play third. He wishes he could still play shortstop."

Alvarez's take on staying at third?

"I'm very confident," he said. "I strive to be the best third baseman I can."

Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin called Alvarez "a natural" at the position.

"There's really nothing Pedro hasn't done in his career," Corbin said yesterday. "He's never even had a blip in his career, other than his hand injury. It's been a tremendous career, and he's very deserving of being picked so high."

How soon might he get to Pittsburgh?

Too early to tell, but it is unlikely the Pirates would do something dramatic such as having him start out above Class A. More probable is a scenario in which, if he signs quickly, he starts out at short-season State College, gets acclimated to the professional grind, then management decides a starting point next spring.

The person

Alvarez was asked yesterday if his family will be involved in the upcoming contract talks, and he did not hesitate.

"They'll be right with me," he said.

There is cause to believe that.

When Alvarez was a child prodigy in the sport, his parents sent him to Horace Mann School in the Bronx, a private facility that placed much more emphasis on education than baseball.

When he was drafted in the 14th round by the Boston Red Sox three years ago, this after an outrageous workout at Yankee Stadium when he blew away scouts by launching home runs left and right, the family turned down a $700,000 bonus so that he could go to Vanderbilt.

"I give that family a lot of credit," Corbin said. "They and Pedro made the move they felt was best for him in the long term."

It surely will work out that way in terms of the upgraded bonus.

"Yeah, I guess," Alvarez said. "But that was very important for me, and I've had a great experience in college. I always hope to represent my university well."

Unlike some elite recruits, Alvarez gained a reputation at Vanderbilt as being a tireless worker and exemplary teammate.

"He's a team guy, someone who cares about people. I hope that everyone in Pittsburgh gets to see him soon, too, because that's when you'll see what he'll mean for the baseball team, for the clubhouse and for the community. This is a special kid you're getting there."

NOTES -- The Pirates' second-round selection was another player who surely will cost above slot, right-handed starter Tanner Scheppers of Fresno State University. He had been expected to go high in the first round until a stress fracture in his shoulder last month knocked him out for six weeks. Scheppers' fastball could reach 99 mph before that, and Baseball America had him ranked as the No. 10 overall, No. 3 among pitchers. In 12 games, he was 8-2 with a 2.93 ERA, 109 strikeouts and 34 walks in 71 innings. Before the injury, the Pirates had discussed taking him with their first-round pick. ... The next two rounds brought two shortstops: Jordy Mercer of Oklahoma State University in the third, Chase D'Arnaud of Pepperdine University in the fourth. Mercer was ranked 64th among position players by Baseball America. ... Check all the picks on MLB.com's draft tracker.