HOUSTON -- Pirates president Frank Coonelly tonight described himself as "frustrated" by the pace of talks with first-round draft pick Pedro Alvarez, marking the first time anyone on either side -- including Alvarez's agent, Scott Boras -- spoke publicly on the matter.

"I am frustrated that negotiations haven't concluded of yet," Coonelly said by phone from Pittsburgh. "We were very hopeful to have Pedro playing for the Pirates' affiliates by now. Other premier college players who have signed early, like Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Braun, Evan Longoria, have used the additional year of development as a stepping stone to get into majors within 10-12 months of being drafted, and we tried to work Pedro into that situation."

The Pirates had expressed hope that Alvarez could be assigned to a low-level minor league affiliate shortly after being drafted June 5 and get enough time that he could start out at a higher level in 2009. But, with the talks increasingly looking as if they will extend right to Major League Baseball's Aug. 15 deadline, that now sounds unlikely.

Coonelly, formerly the chief legal counsel for MLB, said he believes he sees a pattern across the industry of first-rounders holding out until the deadline. Last year, all 30 first-round picks signed, and all but one in the second round did, too.

"It appears from our discussions that what we've seen is that the behavior of clubs in last year's draft that they shouldn't negotiate seriously until Aug. 15," Coonelly said. "That's frustrating for me and, I suspect, others in the industry."

Coonelly continued to decilne to discuss the negotiations.

"Those will stay between us and Pedro and the family and Scott," Coonelly said. "We will not negotiate through the press."

A source not directly involved in the negotations told the Post-Gazette earlier in the week that the sides were $2 million apart, but that figure might be low.