Draft Reactions: Pirates Sign Pedro Alvarez

From the MLB.com article
"No one in here cares about Draft picks, because the fastest guy will be here in three or four years," said Wilson, whose 2008 salary is $6.5 million. "The fact of the matter is that if we sign our No. 1 pick, he's going to be the highest-paid player on our team. So the Draft is completely out of control."

Actually Jack, you're making 6.5M. That is completely out of control because you're not really that good.

Yes the draft is out of control. So is the FA Market where a guy like Wilson can make that much money.

How is draft money out of control? Would you rather have the owners pocketing that money? Same with the FA Market.

There is lots of money in baseball and I would rather see it spread around to players and agents, rather than just concentrated in the owners' hands.

And compared to the football draft, these baseball players are making peanuts. Well, maybe not peanuts, but significantly less.

I'd rather see prices come down to actually go to the stadium than seeing the money go to the players, agents, OR owners.

The fact that Jack Wilson, an average major league shortstop, would get on his soapbox about player costs is laughable. How much do you want to be that a union rep was on the phone with him within one hour of that story hitting the wire?

I'm a Buccos fan, and I like Jack, but don't get all high and mighty about the Pirates signing a potential star instead of throwing more money at the likes of Burnitz or Matt Morris.

Wilson shouldn't talk. He's making more this year than guys with 10x his talent.

I can't see how this can be seen as anything but a complete and total victory for the new Pirates front office and the team as a whole. They added a number of excellent prospects this year and demonstrated a commitment to rebuilding from the ground up. As a team lacking the resources to compete on the open market with the likes of the Mets or Cubs, they HAVE to build through the draft. The cost for talent is comparatively small and allows a smart small-market team to field a competitive club. With Alvarez, Grossman, Miller, and others joining new acquisitions like Tabata, Morris, and LaRoche, and the handful of existing bright young things in the organization (McCutchen, Doumit, Pearce, etc.), the Bucs appear to have built some momentum toward a future that for once, holds real promise. I wasn't crazy about the Nady/Marte deal or even the Bay trade in and of itself, but it's hard to argue against the collective result of these respective moves and the sentiment behind them. So long as Huntington and Co. realize their progress is just that- progress; not a finished product- and that the journey is long, 2008 may be remembered as the year the Pirates finally began to right their ship.

everyone who has posted above is correct and it's also worth pointing out that guys with talent like alvarez don't spend 3 to 4 yrs in the minors anymore if they produce (like i'm sure he will), prospects are coming up faster an faster, more reallisticly he might be in the minors for 2 yrs or so an be the starter by 2011