Pirates Notebook: Taillon's dad says deal 'close'
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HOUSTON -- Although his advisers threw out one last "variable" for the Pirates to mull over Sunday, first-round draft pick Jameson Taillon expects to reach an agreement with the club today, prior to the midnight deadline.
Asked if the deal should take that long to consummate, father Michael Taillon said Sunday night: "I hope not. There's really no need to. To me, the hard work's already been done."
There also existed "optimism" -- the description invoked by all parties -- about completing a deal with second-round pick Stetson Allie.
If the Pirates land both, it would be a win-win for power right-handed pitchers, with one more in the works: They remain favored to land Mexican 16-year-old Luis Heredia once his Veracruz club is allowed by the Mexican Baseball League to begin entertaining offers Thursday.
The Pirates brought a team doctor to Houston this weekend to perform a physical and blood testing on Taillon, who hails from nearby The Woodlands high school. Much the same is believed to have been done with Allie, from St. Edward High School in Cleveland.
"I think it's very close," Michael Taillon said of his son's bonus contract. Randy and Alan Hendricks, the brothers representing Taillon and Allie, asked Pirates general manager Neal Huntington and scouting director Greg Smith to take back to Pittsburgh "one more variable" to consider, according to Michael Taillon, though he declined to specify.
The Taillons aren't approaching this unspecified "variable" as a prospective stumbling block.
"He's itching to get going here," Michael Taillon said of Jameson. "I'm excited for him, and I'm also excited for the Pirates. They're going to get someone who definitely will be an asset to the ballclub and the city. He'll represent the city well."
The "variable" might be a spot on the 40-man roster, something the Pirates are reluctant to concede.
"It's only happened a handful of times in the industry and, in our minds, there were very strong reasons for that," Huntington said.
First Published August 16, 2010 12:32 am
