Inside the Pirates: Things look fine for 2009
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Peter Diana, Post-Gazette
Andrew McCutchen: The Pirates' left fielder of the future?
The last concept anyone in the Pirates' front office would want to float publicly is one that calls for waiting until next year, much less one that looks ahead two years.
Nevertheless, be quite sure that 2009 is a year discussed often and eagerly at 115 Federal Street.
And with good cause.
On the negative side, that is the final year before so many current players -- Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, Adam LaRoche, Jack Wilson, Salomon Torres, among others -- can declare free agency. Which means the window of opportunity either slams shut or gets extended as contracts get extended. Given the Pirates' precedent for such financial commitments, bet the house on the former rather than the latter.
On the much brighter side, the organization's top two prospects -- Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker -- will be in full swing in Pittsburgh. And their addition could turn what currently is a shallow roster into a formidable one.
Just for fun, then, here is your opening-day lineup for April 2009 ...
Chris Duffy, CF
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Andrew McCutchen, LF
Adam LaRoche, 1B
Jason Bay, RF
Neil Walker, 3B
Ronny Paulino, C
Brian Bixler, SS
Zach Duke, P
Why Bixler and not Wilson? As Wilson has pointed out, he makes more than anyone on the Pirates right now at $5.4 million and likely would be the first to go in times of trouble. By 2009, he is scheduled to make $7.25 million.
Why McCutchen in left? The Pirates' thinking is that left at PNC is like center anywhere else, and having McCutchen and Duffy side by side would make for extraordinary coverage in the biggest part of the outfield.
Signed, sealed and ... rejected?
How close were the Pirates and Freddy Sanchez to signing that two-year contract they discussed in January?
Close enough that it almost included a third year.
Well after the fact, it has become clear that the team and the reigning batting champion were separated by no more than 10 percent of the total value of a contract that would have covered this year and next, plus a third-year club option.
That would have assured the Pirates of Sanchez's cost during the three years they own his rights through arbitration, and it would have assured Sanchez of guaranteed money.
Sanchez rejected it and signed his one-year, $2.75 million deal.
Talk about closing the deal ...
Perhaps Salomon Torres should give his agent a raise.
It was the agent, after all, who had the foresight last spring to envision that his client might someday become the Pirates' closer and, as a result, to insist on $900,000 in performance bonuses for games finished as part of the three-year contract extension that was signed in March.
That agent's name?
Salomon Torres.
It was Torres alone who, for two months, exchanged e-mails with the front office and swapped figures on pieces of paper with general manager Dave Littlefield until the deal was done.
"It was a good experience," Torres said. "But it's a lot of work."
Japanese reliever Masumi Kuwata is the only other player in the Pirates' organization who negotiated his own contract.
Smoked like a bad cigar
The Pirates had reports that Serguey Linares once threw 98 mph, harder than any current pitcher at any level of the organization, which is why they handed the 24-year-old Cuban defector a $125,000 signing bonus this past winter.
What they could not have envisioned was that, despite a two-year layoff, he would be hitting 94 mph a month after his arrival in the U.S., as he did during a live batting practice earlier this week in Bradenton, Fla.
"It's been just amazing," director of player development Brian Graham said. "He is really firing it in there."
Still, the plan is to go slowly with Linares. He will have a series of five-inning starts in extended spring training until April 27, when the team will assign him a level, probably Class A.
First Published April 8, 2007 12:00 am
