Pirates and arbitration
Yesterday was the deadline to make contract offers to players elligible for arbitration. Players offered a contract had the option to accept the terms offered, or decline and enter binding arbitration to determine their 2005 salary. Players not offered a contract become free agents.
The Pirates offered contracts to all seven of their arbitration elligible players: Jack Wilson, Josh Fogg, Daryle Ward, Craig Wilson, Rob Mackowiak, Kip Wells, and Brian Meadows. This probably means that they won't be as aggressive as the recent past in pursuing non-tendered free agents.
Of the group listed above, only Daryle Ward has accepted thus far. Looking at the terms, who can blame him. I highly doubt he could have bested the $975,000 + incentive deal the Pirates offered him for 2005. The acquisition of Matt Lawton pretty much insures that Ward is nothing more than a bench player, therefore this offer puzzles me a bit. But it's better than giving a dime to Randall Simon, so maybe I should just bite my tongue on this one.
None of the other players has accepted their contracts yet, however Bob Dvorchak at the PG is reporting that Jack Wilson is close to signing for just under $4 million and Fogg is close to signing for about $2 million. Both of those figures seem to be about right to me, and I wouldn't be terribly upset about either of them. I'm not fan of Fogg, but I really hope he signs for $2 million as I'm afraid he might get upwards of $3 million in arbitration.
Assuming the Pirates don't do anything unexpected, the opening day lineup might look something like this:
Lawton - rf
Wilson - ss
Bay - lf
Wilson - 1b
Mackowiak - cf
Wigginton - 3b
Santiago - c
Castillo - 2b
Perez - p
I've only got one thing to say about that...
HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO.
4 Comments:
ok, let's play around with your lineup for a minute...here's another scenario
Lawton - rf/lf
Wilson - ss
Bay - cf
Wilson/Ward - 1b
Mackowiak/Wigginton - 3b
Mackowiak/Wilson - lf/rf
Santiago - c
Castillo/Hill - 2b
Perez - p
seriously, no matter what way you look at it, it sucks. should we expect more or less than last year? I'd say less b/c we lost our biggest on base guy in kendall.
an outfield of wilson/bay/lawton would be a defensive disaster. i wouldn't expect much out of the pitching staff if that should happen.
i agree with Charlie that castillo is the only regular who you can expect to make an improvement. although bay was a rookie, i wouldn't be surprised if we just saw his career year. c.wilson certainly has the ability to put together a 35-40 hr season at some point during his career, but thats a best case scenario. the rest show no indication of making a leap.
I like Ward and think he's "ok" (in quotes b/c i'm not 100% satisfied with him), but he is injury prone and has the potential to be another Simon. The NL pitching just got a shot in the arm with the A's defections so that makes it tougher for the weak hitting bucs, along with P-dro on the Muts. Pirates will have to face 2 of the top three (projected) staffs this year repeatedly in the Cubs and Cards - but then again they also face the Reds and Brew Crew. Is this the last stop gap year as they are saying? Is there any hope?
I heard yesterday that Mac is saying his opening day outfield as it stands now is Bay, Redman, Lawton. I have more faith in Bay...don't think it was a fluke but he could be another ROTY who doesn't materialize. The pressure to do as well or better could get to him.
I haven't heard anything but is there any rumors out there that the pirates are going after another hitter or is the lineup as it stands now WYSIWYG? I'll call it now - being positive i'll say 72-90.
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