Alvarez led the National League in homers in 2013,but could no longer play even a below average third base and when a move to first didn't boost his defense any and added to an absolute ineptness against lefthanded pitching-the decision became an easy one,when you consider the price Alvarez would cost.
Alvarez was the first draft pick of the Neal Huntington regime and is now going to be the first notable player in the book of how to cull a roster and attempt to continue to contend in a small market.
When you attempt to build through youth and talent on a budget,who you decide to keep and pay (Andrew McCutchen) and who you decide to allow to walk (Alvarez) is just as important as when you allow them to leave.
In the Pittsburgh (and Cleveland for that matter) markets,you need to pick the few players to build around and be willing to move the players that just become too expensive to keep.
The importance of keeping the system consistently pumping players through is paramount as the Pirates knew with the change of position for Josh Bell enabling the Pirates to replace Alvarez with luck sometime this summer with the cost-protected production of Bell at first base for a few years.
The power that Pedro Alvarez possesses will not be easy to replace,but the money that would have been spent on a one dimensional player (likely around eight million) can now go elsewhere-likely towards the middle to back of the pitching rotation (especially after the surprising turnaround and then loss of JA Happ) and it just didn't seem to be worth cutting the check towards considering that Alvarez would have been a free agent of the end of 2016 anyway.
Pittsburgh will likely try to slide by for a few months of Michael Morse at first base and then perhaps Josh Bell will be ready to step in after a freshening at AAA Indianapolis (and chopping a year off before arbitration doesn't hurt either) as the permanent first baseman...
As for Alvarez,where could he wind up?
Well,considering his clear defensive deficiencies,one would think that American League teams would have far more interest than teams in the senior circuit and I would think that the Indians could be one of those that find Alvarez interesting.
I'd think that they would DH him,but for a year at his cost,Alvarez could be a (not the) big bat that the Indians are looking for.
There are other AL teams that would be a nice fit,most notably the Orioles,in the event that they lose Chris Davis and maybe the Astros as a Alvarez/Evan Gattis would be a nasty DH platoon.
I was never a huge fan of Pedro Alvarez as he struck out a ton,looked like he'd gain weight (and did) and figured to eventually be a long term defensive liability (which happened sooner than even I thought),but considering his contract demands coming out of Vanderbilt and the presence of agent Scott Boras along with the bungled personnel moves of Dave Littlefield-the signing of Alvarez gave Pirates fans hope that a new era was on its way.
The development and arrival of Alvarez then gave fans hope that indeed this management group had an idea of what they were doing.
Now the departure of Pedro Alvarez will offer the next step in the Pittsburgh Pirates plan-being able to contend as players depart....
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