You are right. The C & H boys have done nothing yet; and soon, what is left of the fan base will catch on if nothing happens, first by the 7/31 trading deadline and then by the 8/15 deadline for signing draft picks.

When the Pirates drafted Alvarez, I figured that Coonelly must have had prior discussions with Boras and must have had a pretty good idea what it would take to sign him … or even if Boras would ever ‘allow’ him to sign with Pittsburgh. After all, wasn’t it Boras that kept J.D. Drew from EVER signing with the Phillies?

Obviouly, there is great opportunity to move up fast with the Pirates. But if Boras is of the opinion that Coonelly and Huntington are neophytes, he might feel that would hurt Alvarez in the long run.

So if Pedro does not sign, he returns to Vanderbilt for his senior year and the Pirates end up with a sandwich pick. Big deal! Of course, who is to say that Alvarez is the real deal either. A lot of this is a crapshoot … with a lot of money on the line!

It all comes down to two words … TALENT EVALUATION.

and I’m sick of it. Other GMs are complaining about our requirements that they give us actual talent for our good players. Borass trying to squeeze every last cent that he can get out of us. I think it’s time to make a stand right now. If Alvarez doesn’t want to play for us for $6 million dollars or whatever it is that we’re offering, then f him. He is the one that will get to play fewer career games in the majors because of it, his family will have to live in poverty for another year because of it. What if he doesn’t hit all that well next year at Vandy? He might fall all the way down to mid-late first round – given all the pitching that I’ve heard about in next year’s class. What if he gets a serious injury? These things happen. $6 million dollars would transform anybody’s life (except Boras’) and it will allow the Alvarez family to never worry about money again. I highly doubt that they are stupid enough to jeopardize that. I think Alvarez will sign with us very near the deadline even if he has to fire Boras to do it. Unfortunately, that will still put him a year behind in his development and cause him to break into the majors later and thus play fewer career games. Hopefully he’ll hit like Wieters and we’ll all forget this crap ever happened. BTW, when will Scheppers work out in Pittsburgh?

I, too, believe that, when push comes to shove, Alvarez will sign.shove. He will be risking a great deal if he waits another year, and I think that the Pirate brass should hang tough in the negotiations.

But patthatt, you seem to be excited about a higher draft pick if he doesn’t sign.

I’d be excited, too, if I thought that the Pirate brain trust/scouting department knew what they were doing. But until I see some positive results in terms of the performace of players once they are signed, I will remain a sceptic.

maybe write in a Q to DK about that?

Seems like Coonelly is already prepping the fandom for the strong possiblity that they won’t sign Alvarez. Maybe they shouldn’t have “Voted for Pedro” in the first place…..

Most fans are casual and do not know other teams prospects and many do not know our own outside of the ones that have already appeared in the majors. If they see the Pirates finish close to .500(doubtful) their perception would be that we are getting better. I have heard many say that if we trade Wilson,Bay etc. that it is the opposite of what those think that are looking towards the future.