The Pirates will tender contracts to all three key players -- starter Zach Duke, closer Matt Capps and shortstop Ronny Cedeno -- who are certain to qualify for salary arbitration this offseason.

"Barring some unforeseen circumstance, we will," general manager Neal Huntington said last night in his first firm pronouncement on the subject.

Management would prefer, as always, to negotiate settlements before cases reach arbitration. That could be especially true of Capps, who will be second-year eligible after making $2.425 million in a down year.

"I don't see a situation in which we non-tender Capps unless we get completely unrealistic financial demands," Huntington said. "From the standpoint of our belief in his ability, that's absolutely there."

Still unresolved is whether or not pitcher Jeff Karstens is arbitration-eligible, though he probably will be in the Super-2 category. If so, the Pirates apparently like Karstens enough that they will tender him, too. Karstens very much wants to stay in Pittsburgh.

Any player non-tendered becomes a free agent.

A procession of about 200 armored police officers entered PNC Park at about 4 p.m., passing by the clubhouses of the Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers, shortly after protecting the nearby Andy Warhol Museum for First Lady Michelle Obama's G-20 luncheon.

Several players and coaches emerged from the Pirates' clubhouse to watch the officers' silent procession in full gear.

That, plus the protest that crossed the Warhol Bridge and accompanying sirens and helicopters, brought must more of the summit to the ballpark than the previous day.

First baseman Steve Pearce, walking from his North Shore apartment to the game, was accosted by a police officer for trying to cross Sandusky Street, even though another officer had just given him permission.

"I mean, he was yelling," Pearce said. "These guys mean business. They all look like Judge Dredd."

The Pirates named top prospect Pedro Alvarez their minor league player of the year, Rudy Owens their pitcher of the year.

The selection of Alvarez was no surprise, given his 27 home runs, 95 RBIs and .288 average. He currently is in Italy representing the United States in the World Cup.

Owens, a 21-year-old left-hander, was 11-2 with a 2.10 ERA split between Class A West Virginia and Lynchburg, the latter affiliate joined after a late-season promotion.

Was Owens surprised it took so long to move up?

"Yeah, I was kind of surprised," Owens said. "But they would pull me into the office sometimes and tell me so I could understand it. They wanted me to be hungry to win. They wanted me to not try to throw the ball past everyone but to let the hitters get themselves out. It really helped."

• Cedeno missed a second game because of two strained hamstrings. He explained that he originally hurt the right, then hurt the left by compensating. He will try to play today.

• The Pirates want to see newly acquired reliever Anthony Claggett do some throwing tests before determining if he will join the team. He had not pitched in 10 days before being claimed off waivers Thursday.

• Pitcher Jose Ascanio was shut down, Huntington said, because his shoulder was not healing well enough to allow him to pitch next week, as all concerned had hoped.

• Before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, Yukio Hatoyama, Japan's prime minister, had a PNC Park news conference in which he received a Pirates jersey from team president Frank Coonelly and a Dodgers jersey from Los Angeles pitcher Hiroki Kuroda.

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