Saturday, July 18, 2009

Bucs Plan on Negotiating With Freddy Sanchez & Jack Wilson

After all the trade talks, it looks like Pirates management has decided to try and keep it's double play combination here in Pittsburgh. It looks as if talks between the Bucs and both Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson have began on contract extensions. The cupboard is empty as far as middle infielders go in the organization, so I am not totally against bringing both guys back. If you buy into the theory that you build a team up the middle, then the Bucs would be decent with Doumit, Sanchez, Wilson and McCutchen.

My main questions are Why? and Why now? The timing is very odd, after it looked as if Sanchez was gone before the all-star break ended. I wouldn't read too much into this, as it looks like Pirates management is crumbling to the pressure from the fans.

I will answer the Why Now question first. Huntington knows he isn't bringing these guys back at the numbers they are currently earning. He knows they are on the way out the door. Knowing he is going to be ripped apart by the fan base and the media, Huntington offers them contracts he knows they aren't going to accept. That way, when they are dealt, he can say they refused extensions and he had to deal them. Jack and Freddy become the bad guys in all this.

Now the question of Why would he want to extend them? It's quite simple, he doesn't. He low balls both of them with an offer. If they accept, great. If they don't, he shops them. Both guys are 32 years old and will begin slowing down. He offered Jack a 2 year deal at 4mil per. Jack is making over 8mil this season. Wilson also wants a third year guaranteed. While he said he would take a pay cut, I don't think he meant by 50%.

Freddy, has an option that will kick in for next season, paying him close to eight and a half million. Neither of these guys are 8mil type of players. He offered Freddy a 2 year/$10mil deal, voiding his $8.5mil option as well. Freddy naturally refused. It just wouldn't make sense for him to accept that deal.

So there it is, Huntington has made Sanchez and Wilson the bad guys in this. The one thing he underestimated is how much the fan base loves these guys. He will still get ripped apart for dealing them. Trading them makes baseball sense, if they get good value in return. With their big numbers, I just don't see that happening. One thing Huntington said. I do agree with. Neither guy will get bigger deals in the off-season. Especially with the economy and the way some free agents had to take lower offers at the last minute this season, I see the same thing happening next season.

If the Bucs elect to deal them and don't upgrade both positions, it could look bad next season. There isn't much in the free agent market. The second base class is led by Felipe Lopez, Orlando Hudson and Placido Polanco. At short, Khalile Greene, Orlando Cabrerra, Miguel Tejada and Marco Scutaro would be available, but judging by the past, the Pirates won't be active in upgrading the positions through the open market.

So choose your sides. Both guys are likely headed out of Pittsburgh one way or another. My guess is Jack is dealt by the deadline and they hold onto Sanchez at the moment. Sanchez will be dealt eventually though, possibly in the off season. The only thing I will predict is that this situation could get very messy in the media for the next few weeks.

9 comments:

  1. very torn here. i say deal them both, but no matter who you would get, they will be worse defensively than jack and freddy. but send em both packing.

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  2. if they truly could have go eric young jr. or jonathen sanchez in a deal for freddy, I don't see why they didn't do it. they won't get more than that for either guy so i really don't think it makes a difference.

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  3. you almost have to keep them both. not by choice but because there isn't much free agent wise to sign next season and if there was, they wouldn't shell out the money to sign them anyway. expect to be very bad up the middle next season

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  4. maybe jack and freddy should be viewed as the bad guys here. we offered them deals that they probably wouldn't get testin free agency. if they don't wanna stay then they should be traded

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  5. i look for them to deal one of the outfield prospects, since we have a few now and maybe acquire a young shortstop. see what we can get in a laroche deal, maybe an arm or a second baseman. then deal both jack and freddy for overall depth and some pitching

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  6. to the guy 2 above. thats just stupid. why should sanchez forfeit 8.5mil next season to sign for 10mil total for 2 seasons. and he's the bad guy? i could maybe see signing the 10mil extension if his option wasn't voided. the pirates were dumb enough to offer that deal so don't blame him for signing it. that was a bad contract for the pirates from day 1

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  7. both are bad contracts. another case of the pirates signing people to please the public. wilson is the equivalent to adam everett offensively and they are comparable defensively. everett makes 1mil while jack is making over 8? it would have been nice to acquire Jair Jurriens and Gorkys Hernandez from the Tigers when we could have to dump jack then. thanks, dave littlefield

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  8. no sano news yet. now, no one knows weather the mlb investigation on his age is really done or not. what i do know is the Bucs offer isn't near the atleast $3 mil it will take to sign him, so i hope they step it up.

    Good point above on the Jurriens deal. That one really made me mad. How nice would it be to have Jair at the top of our rotation

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