The Pirates announced today they've declined club options on Paul Maholm, Chris Snyder, Ryan Doumit, and Ronny Cedeno.
The decision on Cedeno was the Pirates' one unknown. Though a case could be made that the value of Cedeno's ability to play shortstop exceeded the $2.8MM net price of his option, the Pirates will aim higher than his .249/.297/.339 batting line.
For Maholm, the Pirates chose a $750K buyout over his $9.75MM club option. The lefty told Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "The day I was put on the DL, I realized my time in Pittsburgh was done." Prior to that season-ending stint for a shoulder injury, the 29-year-old posted a 3.66 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.61 HR/9, and 49.9% groundball rate in 162 1/3 innings. As one of the ten best starters on the free agent market this winter, he's in line for a multiyear deal.
The Pirates' decisions to pay Snyder a $750K buyout over a $6.75MM option and Doumit a $500K buyout over a $7.25MM option were well-known. Both players have offensive ability, and should be relatively popular on the free agent market. Doumit's defense and durability questions will likely prevent a team from offering a full-time catching job, while Snyder will have to compete for one after missing most of 2011 with a back injury.
their catching situation is now in shambles. McKenry has been good for this team but he’s not starting catcher material in the majors. his bat isn’t as consistent or even as powerful as Doumit or Snyder. it’s a shame that neither Snyder nor Doumit could stay healthy.
Maholm i understand though. he’s solid but on a major-league team other than the Pirates he’s no higher than a 4th starter, and that’s in a good year for him. i would have liked to see him back but not at the price his option entitled him to.
Well they weren’t going to compete this year anyway. Bring in a stopgap until Tony Sanchez is ready and they should be fine in the future.
I hope they bring back Doumit. His defense is horrible but when he is healthy it is nice to have his bat in the middle of the order.
Cedeno may be an option for the Brewers… Let’s hope it isn’t the first option though.
As a Brewers fan I would not be too pleased if they picked up Cedeno. I would rather of sacrifised defense by keeping Betancourt. He was one of the best SS in the league offensively. His defense is very suspect tho! Combine him with MehGee and that will be many errors and poor defense. I would have liked the Brewers to pursue Furcal more aggressively last year. I just am not sure who if anyone is going to fill the SS position for the Brewers successfully. Reyes would be nice but realisticly that will never happen. Wonder how well Aaron Hill would play SS? That would be a good fit if he could do it! Ecspecially if Hill could perform like he did a couple of years ago!
So, this team has absolutely no payroll now, they better be replacing these guys with better players. Not mad the expensive catchers were declined, but Maholm has value at a cheaper price and I’m not sure why they’d let Cedeno go. 3M or less for a league average SS isn’t a bad deal.
I’d still like to see them bring one of the catchers back. I enjoyed this season for a while and don’t want them to regress to the same bad team. This is an essential offseason to upgrade the major league roster.
Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette said it best when he said that the Pittsburgh Pirates will never be a successful franchise with the current ownership group. It is one thing to allow mediocre talent to walk away when there are better options waiting in the wings, but it is quite another to let mediocre talent walk away when the franchise has no one waiting in the wings. What an embarrassment to the city of Pittsburgh and MLB. Hey, maybe they can re-sign Lyle Overbay!!
Ron Cook is an embarrassment to journalists everywhere. He is constantly negative about everything. He is a bitter old man who knows little to nothing about baseball.
I’d love for the Braves to pick up Cedeno for the bench.
Yuni Betancourt here we come! Mark up the ERA for our starting pitchers by a full run!!!
No. For the love of God, no. Betancourt may be the worst player ever.
Hallelujah, Cedeno is gone!
could you see the Red Sox picking up Doumit? They tried getting him @ the trade deadline 2 years ago before the Pirates shifted him to RF, would they pick him up if they let Tek walk?
Maybe Tek wants to play for the Pirates :)
Dropping Maholm is a big mistake. The guy is a work horse. Every year he has pitched good enough to be considered a #3 pitcher on most teams. The problem is that the pirates pitched him hurt many times when he should have been on the DL. redsox or Yanks will get him and he will be a solid leader. No wonder the pirates always lose its their front office decisions.
i have to strongly disagree with this entire comment, except that the red sox or yankees will grossly overpay for him.
Maholm is now the 3rd best FA starter out there. Probably could have traded him for something
Doumit would be a nice backup to MW in Bmore.
I don’t agree with declining Ronny Cedeno. He’s one of the better shortstops in the league and he is an above average fielder. I wonder if Hurdle has had it with him and wants to find a cheaper option.
I don’t entirely trust D’Arnaud. He was terrible at defense and it definitely COST us some games.
I wouldn’t mind Doumit on the Angels. His defense is awful, but our catching spot is a black hole. Maybe Scioscia can somewhat teach him to be a better catcher, but knowing Scioscia he would rather have a decent defensive catcher rather than a pretty good offensive one.