Pedro Alvarez non-tendered by Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates have made the difficult decision to non-tender Pedro Alvarez and allow him to be a free agent.
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....

Huntington comes through! Alvarez a Pirate!

It went all the way to the wire, but Neal Huntington was able to wait out Scott Boras and sign the Pirates' top pick in Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez minutes before the signing deadline.
The news is even better for Pirate fans as Alvarez was signed to a minor league deal with a six-million-dollar bonus.

The bonus was actually smaller than the Giants gave to the fifth pick, Florida State catcher Buster Posey, and showed that not only could the Pirates compete financially for top players, but that they would be reasonably responsible on the fiscal ledger as well.

No word on where Alvarez might appear, if anywhere, for the last two weeks of the season, although if the Bucs want him to get an extra week of play in, he could be assigned to State College as their season ends a week later than the full-season teams in the system.
Pedro becomes the top prospect in the system as soon as the deal is officially finished.
Check these highlights of the newest Pirate!


The Pirates were unable to come to terms with second-round pick Tanner Scheppers of Fresno State.
Scheppers was not near full health and simply overpriced himself for the risk of an injured player.
Scheppers can return to Fresno State for the 2009 season, will be eligible for the draft, and the Pirates will not have any rights to him.

However, Pittsburgh will have a compensation pick early in the second round for losing Scheppers.
Again, full compliments to the staff on this one.
I would have liked to have seen Scheppers signed, but given a choice between a questionable health risk in Scheppers vs bringing in Robbie Grossman and Quinton Miller, I take the latter.
Every time.

I was hoping for one final signing from the mid to late rounds, such as catcher Jason Haniger, pitcher Wesley Wright, or third baseman Zack Wilson, but in all likelihood, that wasn't going to happen.
Either the wait to the final whistle tactics of Boras killed that due to time constraints, or perhaps the final move was made when Quinton Miller was signed, one doesn't know.

For the first time in a long time, I see light at the end of the tunnel in Pittsburgh.
Will all of these players turn out?

Of course not.
But the effort shown in attempting to truly bring in the "New Culture" that Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly have talked about from day 1 and the financial backing that Bob Nutting has provided for the amateur draft has given me hope that at least there is a plan in place and the Pirates have smart people operating that plan.

The job is far from done.
Other than Alvarez, some of these players will not rocket through the system, and now, with many of the valuable marketing chips moved away (Jason Bay, Xavier Nady), the progress will not be as immediate or as noticeable to the casual fan.

The draft will need to continue to be attacked in the manner that was done in 2008.
Washington was similarly depleted in their farm system and, for two seasons, seemed to be turning things around with an aggressive plan to restock the system.

They seem to have taken a step back in 2008 with a "slot" style draft and not signing their top pick in Missouri righty Aaron Crow.

The Pirates cannot afford to take that backwards step.
Keep attacking, be aggressive in the draft, be forward thinking when you trade the veteran parts that still need to be moved, and continue to try to build a contender and not fall into the trap of just being .500.

Great work and compliments to the Pirate front office, and these last few weeks have made it fun to be a Pirate fan for the first time in a long while.

Back later with the Pirates loss to the Mets and anything I can scoop up.

Photo Credit
Huntington:Pittsburgh Post Gazette