The Pirates have officially announced their contract extension with Andrew McCutchen, which makes Neil Walker the next candidate for a long-term deal. Here are some links pertaining to the Pirates…
- McCutchen turned down two contract offers before agreeing to terms with the Pirates, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
- The Pirates figured that Walker would be easier to sign than McCutchen earlier on in the negotiating process. A source close to the Walker-Pirates talks tells Biertempfel that a lot of work needs to be done on a possible agreement.
- It sounds like the Pirates won't work out an extension with Walker in the immediate future, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.
- Pirates GM Neal Huntington said Pirates fans don’t have to worry that the club will flip McCutchen for prospects, according to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. “We are now well beyond the talent-accumulation phase,” Huntington said. “We're into the championship, Major League team-building phase." Huntington also pointed out that in baseball there’s no LeBron James or Sidney Crosby to come in and save a franchise more or less on his own.
- Heyman writes that he doesn't consider McCutchen a $51.5MM player yet, though Pirates people expect him to become one.
Heyman “doesn’t consider McCutchen a $51.5MM player” Sure he’s not a Boras client.
Who is Heyman by the way for me to care about whatever he says?
I was going to make a comment about Heyman not thinking McCutchen is a $51 mil player but that has already been taken care of by the above posters. Good job fans!
…and Kemp, the arguable MVP of last year
He doesn’t have the supporting staff in my opinion to get an MVP anytime soon. In order to get big RBI numbers, you need people to be getting on ahead of you, which isn’t exactly the case in Pittsburgh. Eventually he could, but he needs a few pieces around him to allow him to excel to MVP-caliber play.
Bruce? But you missed Kemp?
Just like all those other top 15 prospects that burst onto the major league team and put up solid numbers in his first three seasons and signs a $50MM+ contract. The Pirates always trade those players away. Just like…you know…that guy…what’s his name…?
Happens all the time.
Not to be the grammar police, but it’d be great if you used punctuation. just a little. kind of hard to read your stuff without it