FanPost

Crazy Talk or Not?

From today's PG:

Wilson reiterated that he and Sanchez made no counter-offers because the Pirates called their initial offers "best-shot." And he stressed anew that he will not sign unless Sanchez does.

Read more:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09202/985310-63.stm#ixzz0LtHxr6Ue

This seems crazy to me. Does Jack not know that Freddy is pretty close to being effectively signed for next year? Certainly he could be traded and we will all know the answer to that most likely in the next ten days. But, barring that Freddy needs 239 plate appearances in the remaining 70 Pirates games to reach the necessary 600 plate appearances. That is 3.4 appearances per. If he plays more than 60 of the remaining 70 games and continues to bat second, he most likely will have his option vest. In which case, Sanchez will be signed. So, is Jack just saying he is waiting to see if Freddy gets traded and/or his option vests, or is he hanging himself out to dry? Because if and when that happens, if Jack still wants to play with Freddy he sure isn't going to have any leverage in his own contract negotiations.

Same article:

A trade, by all accounts, will not be easy because other teams are wary of Sanchez's $8 million vesting option for 2010, one he is virtually certain to trigger by making 600 plate appearances this season.

Read more:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09202/985310-63.stm#ixzz0LtKj8bNT

Clearly, if this reporting is true, other teams don't view Sanchez as an $8 million/year player, even for one year. Or if they do, they aren't willing to give up anything more of value than taking on his $8 million obligation for next year. So, he may be worth $8 million, but it seems clear he isn't worth $8 million (plus a couple million for the remainder of this season) and any legitimate prospects. While DK (and Collier in today's PG) seem to be working the fanbase into a frenzy by suggesting that any trade where we don't get legitimate prospects back in return is a salary dump, it appears to me that he is clearly reporting that that doesn't seem likely to happen because the market is signaling something different. It will be interesting to see if the team considers paying any of Freddy's salary this year, or picking up any of his option next year to facilitate the acquisition of prospects.

Last piece, first Jack:

Of the contract status, he added, "We're both very interested in being Pirates. It is a negotiation, and it definitely shouldn't be a public thing, which it has kind of turned into.

Then Freddy:

"I didn't know it was negotiable," he said of the Pirates' initial offer. "I think we all thought that we couldn't even make a counter-offer.

This all seems pretty disingenuous to me. It seems pretty clear to me that the agents for both players released the contract terms to the media in hopes of making the Pirates look cheap and creating some public backlash. And I think they were successful so it might have been a very good tactic. So, I don't think Jack really has a leg to stand on there. (I have asked DK a few times if he would comment on which side leaked the terms first and he hasn't responded, so this is solely my opinion and obviously could be wrong.) As for Freddy saying he didn't know he could make a counter-offer, well, then get a better agent. As Jack said above it's a negotiation. If you counter and the Pirates hold firm and say no, nothing is lost. But to just assume you can't counter? Well your agent is pretty dumb.

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