I was approached by a well-known company to bring my blog under their brand two weeks ago and today I finally told them no thank you. It was a great opportunity but I would have had to tighten the ship considerably and that’s not something I’m wanting to do. It’s not about the money – it’s about the freedom to opinionize as I wish. But I do want to thank a few writers and some folks around the game who lobbied to bring me on. I’m very humbled.
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So, are we going to open the year with Cedeno at short, or are we going to get into a bidding war with the Mariners for Wilson’s services? That seems to be the question Dejan is throwing out with his post today that the Mariners are currently in talks with Wilson. All of this assumes, of course, that the M’s eventually decline his option and Wilson declares free agency. For that to happen, word would have to leak to Wilson or his agent that another club might have interest and Wilson also rejects any extension the M’s offer.
Normally I wouldn’t cover anything Jack Wilson does since I’m not his best fan but this does beg looking at because, imo, we’ve already made one bonehead financial decision for Aki which, as I mentioned in the previous post, seemed to be a slap in the face to Perry Hill not returning. Remember now, Hill is one of the few who fought dearly to keep Wilson and Sanchez, along with Dejan I’m guessing based on his previous posts on the matter.
So let’s consider a few things. Let’s assume we have to up tyhe ante a bit to say 2/$9M. There are those who believe Wilson is worth at least $4M per year if for no other reason than his glove, and I’ll agree – even though his playing time and range has declined the last two years, even I would put him in the +1 win category and worth $4M per year. But certainly not more than that.
Now this is where it gets a bit sticky. You see, Wilson offers the Pirates something the M’s get very little in return from and that is gate draw. How much? Let your imagination run wild but I’d put the value somewhere in the half-million dollar mark over the M’s myself. He’s still a fan favorite here. But I assume the Pirates considered that when they offered him $4M per on a two-year.
Then there is the Joe Kerrigan value. I assume Kerrigan would prefer to have Wilson over Cedeno behind his pitchers just like Hill wanted the stronger middle defense. What value is this worth? Plenty in Kerrigan’s mind I’d guess since the swing between Cedeno and Wilson’s glove is about a win or two.
So that leads us back to the start – do we open with Cedeno or go after Wilson? I really don’t want to see Jack Wilson back in Pittsburgh myself but I can understand why others would feel the opposite way. Knowing this is a Nutting club run by Coonelly/Huntington, I doubt we see any rush to get Wilson and instead focus on picking up some offensive talent and bullpen arms after the dust settles in December.
We’ll know more after the GM meetings that are coming up.
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Ah, excuse me but, did anyone stop to wonder who will be our Japanese interpreter for Akinori Iwamura? I can just see Joe Kerrigan going to the mound and telling the infield what to do with Aki being fed sign language from the dugout.
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Veal continues his domination over the young kids in the AFL. Obviously that’s never been his problem – it’s when he takes the mound facing ML hitters he gets soft that has killed him. We’ll see if any of this translates but I’m not holding my breath.
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Bob Nutting: attending a Steelers or Penguins game can be a ‘bank busting‘ experience. Hilarious.
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Virgil Vasquez, Eric Hacker, and Steve Lerud were designated for assignment today. Not much to say about those moves.
Related posts:
Jake, What about bringing Omar Vizquel to help out Ronny Cedeno and give him some breaks at SS 1yr 2.5 to 3 mil for Omar. he’s only had 11 errors over his last 230 starts spanning 3 years. 0 errors last year , Maybe Omsr can start 30 to 50 games . Then the Pirates can offer Omar a coaching job right away.
When Omar hangs it up.
Jack Wilson at 32, 1.9 war last year, omar at 43 – 1.2 war last year.
Hell No
Maybe Hill should have kept his mouth shut. Perry Hill is as replaceable as Jack Wilson was.
Sunny:
The Pirates didn’t recieve $3.3M from the Mariners. The Pirates paid the Mariners $3.3M, to cover the remainder of Wilson and Snell’s 2008 salaries (less a prorated portion of the 2009 MLB minimum, for both).
That’s a bit of a difference, and I don’t know if that difference changes your thinking on whether or not the Pirates should persue Wilson, with an overpay, should he become a FA.
The following quote is lifted from Dejan’s blog. It’s not the clearest written sentence ever, and could easily be misread. So it may be the source of your confusion.
“In the trade, the Pirates acquired shortstop Ronny Cedeno, first baseman Jeff Clement and pitching prospects Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nate Adcock, for Wilson, pitcher Ian Snell and $3.3 million in cash.”
Thanks Moose, realist — I totally misread what he wrote and didn’t have my thinking cap on because I certainly knew better. I used it for a lead-in that we may have to offer a tick more.
Do a little research , Jake. The money in the trade went the other way. I highly doubt big companies will want to endorse you long when you make major mistakes like that.
easy Realist…I suppose your perfect…This is Nutting we are talking about,so most people assume money came our way knowing how much of a miser Bobby is…This is by far the best Pirates website around.. The Pirates messageboards are pathetic..U got the Nutting morons- Scorp, Gamecock, Alvarez and those with a brain like Kovie and McHostage,who can see what the Pirates are putting out on the field is a bunch of garbage..and of course u, always bending over for Bobby and company
I am perfect. Thank you.
Kovie and Hostage have a brain? You must be family.
Jake,
Do you really think the Aki deal was done to twist the knife with Perry Hill? Do you really think the team is so petty as to pick up a $5MM player merely to get back at a coach who is holding out?
I don’t pretend to know the motives behind Hill’s actions, but just as I thought it highly unlikely that the Pirates would make promises about personnel to a position coach, I’m confident that the Pirates aren’t making player decisions to get back at a position coach that is holding out.
Erik
P.S. Congrats on going over a week on posts advocating the position change / trade of Ryan Doumit. That’s progress!
> Do you really think the Aki deal was done to twist the knife with Perry Hill?
Obviously, no. But from what I’ve heard inside, I really wonder sometimes.
As for Doumit, he’s our starting catcher. End of story. But I wish…
Well, if Jack does come back that leaves only 3 former Pirates on the new 2010 Pirates Wall Calendar. Sanchez, Snell, Adam LaRoche. Sheesh.
The Pirates basically saved 4.25 mill on Snells 2010 contract. The Pirates need real bats not bums like Jack.This franchise is a disgrace. The cancer in the name of Nutting needs to finally leave town.