Welcome to the first edition of our Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call, where one of our writers gives his or her thoughts on all things Pirates, whether it be the game from the day before, off-the-field news, or anything at all going on in the world of the Pirates.
Spring training finally ended yesterday as Opening Day in all it’s glory came to Pittsburgh. The Pirates-Cardinals game was the first game for all of Major League Baseball, and the Bucs went home with a 4-1 win. Make sure to check out our Takeaways & Throwaways piece for our immediate post-game reaction yesterday.
There was a lot of good to take away from the first game of the season. On the positive side, Francisco Liriano was filthy, striking out ten as he was able to locate his devastating slider when he needed to. Gregory Polanco hit the ball hard off the bat; if he can continue doing that this season, he will certainly add more home runs to his resume. John Jaso looked good defensively at first, and figures to be a huge improvement over Pedro Alvarez moving forward. New addition David Freese also looked good with the bat and in the field; anything positive from him in Jung Ho Kang‘s absence is a huge plus.
On the negative side, Mark Melancon, after a perfect spring, had a rough debut, allowing multiple runners to reach base and a run in the process. There hasn’t been any news of a decline in Melancon’s velocity, so I’d just chalk this first outing up to first game jitters. Jordy Mercer misplayed a ball at short, and Francisco Cervelli threw a ball into center field after fielding a bunt. Both plays should have been made. Let’s hope the defense improves as a whole over last season.
But, surprisingly, news came out today that trumped the actual game itself. Jeff Passan was the first to report that the Pirates and Gregory Polanco had agreed to terms on a five-year deal with two club options. The Pirates had originally approached Polanco before the 2014 season while Polanco was still in the minors about an extension, but he reportedly turned down an offer the Pirates made. Polanco is now under team control through the 2023 season, and on a seemingly team-friendly deal:
Source: Polanco five-year deal with #Pirates is for $35M. If both options are exercised, total value will be more than $60M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 4, 2016
Without getting into the math, if Polanco plays to an above-average player, this deal will be a huge benefit to the team. He has all the talent in the world to make this another steal for a team that already has Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen on team-friendly deals. I love this deal. Locking up young talent is key for a small market team, and being able to eat free agent years is vitally important.
We won’t know the exact details of the deal until the team announces the deal.
The Pirates are off on Monday but continue their series with the Cardinals on Tuesday at 7:05 PM. We’ll get to see Jon Niese make his regular season debut as a Pirate as he takes on young stud Michael Wacha. But as you all hold your breath until then, here are some stories and news bits from around the net to keep you intrigued. Enjoy!
According to a study by the Associated Press, the average MLB salary is up to $4.4 million, as reported by ESPN. According to Spotrac, the Pirates have eight players making above that mark.
The Indians cut Michael Bourn yesterday, and ate his $14 million salary for this season in the process. That’s tough for a small market team like the Indians to do.
Korean outfielder Hyun Soo Kim made the Baltimore Orioles’ Opening Day roster, despite having a horrible spring training. Kim send some minor waves across baseball as he refused to consent to being sent down to the minors, which was a clause in his contract. The Orioles were in a tough situation there.
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