Comments on: First Pitch: A Reminder on Pedro Alvarez’s Contract

By: Lee Young

Lee Young — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:38:45 +0000

Bora$$ clients don’t ‘do extensions’.

Foo

By: leadoff

leadoff — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:03:27 +0000

The Pirates should take a shot at an extension asap, power hitting 3rd basemen are getting rare. Even if they keep him through 2016, they will be paying him a pretty good sum in arbitration in years 14,15,16.
If Alvarez does not want to consider an extension, the Bucs might want to trade him after the 2014 or 15 seasons, they should get a very good return for him.
Make no mistake about it, Alvarez will be an even more dominating player going forward, he hit 30 home runs and had a bad year overall, think what he might do with a good year?

By: emjayinTN

emjayinTN — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:58:56 +0000

j: I hear you, agree with you, but folks who set contract worth could care less about 180 K’s in a year. What turns them on is the 25 doubles, 30 HR’s, 85 RBI’s. Perfect example is Mark Reynolds who held his K’s down to about 160 this year and had mid-20′s for HR’s. Just finished his 5th year I think, and made $7.5 mil in 2012. In 2013 he has an $11.5 mil Club Option.

Alvarez just finshed his 2nd year of MLB Service at age 25 – we have him for 4 more years or when he is 29. Is he coming out of the funk or will he continue to tease us throughout his career? If he was in first year Arb this year he would be worth $3.5 to $4.5 mil as a 30 HR, 85 RBI guy. Is it the time to play it safe – year-to-year, or is it the time to try to wrap him up longer? If Boras says NO, the Pirates still win because they have shown confidence in his ability. Now, that’s a big gamble for a GM.

By: jalcorn

jalcorn — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:29:55 +0000

I don’t think it will matter too much. Bad bodied, high strikeout sluggers generally age very poorly. We will get his entire prime as is and he can walk when he hits age 30 as a 1B that should be replaceable. I wouldn’t extend him for more than 1 extra year anyway. Honestly, with his K rate I’d much rather go year to year in arbitration.

By: Lee Young

Lee Young — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 11:59:06 +0000

Tim…thanks…we were asking about that on the Plus yesterday.

Bottom line with Alvarez….he will get dealt in 2016 or before, esp if he becomes a ‘monster’ (or quits striking out so much).

That’s sad…but that is the way Bud wants it. Look how bad the WS ratings were without Boston or New York in it.