hip hip JOSE!

long time reader - first time poster so i don't know if i did this right but had to post about my extreme love of Jose Tabata. Love this site! I used to think that Taco Bell offered the best deals I had ever seen, 99 cents for nacho supreme? Unbelievable. This past Friday, Jose Tabata firmly supplanted Taco Bell as #1 dealmaker guy. The extension that the Bucs signed Tabata to is a phenomenally team friendly deal and should benefit our team greatly moving forward. This is the exact type of deal we need to be legitimate NL Central winners for several years running. Even Bob Smizik – who is a moron Pirates bashing troll who knows nothing about baseball – couldn’t find a way to spin this one badly - http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports/bob-smiziks-blog/29847-pirates-win-one-over-tabata Essentially – the Tabata deal is six years (this year is included in that though) for right around 15 million. CRAZY. The salary breakdown is as follows: 2011: $500,000 ($1 M signing bonus) 2012: $750,000 2013: $1,000,000 2014: $3,000,000 2015: $4,000,000 2016: $4,500,000 THEN on top of that, we have three (3!) club option years that we can exercise at a year by year basis, basically deciding if we want to keep him or not. There is zero risk involved for the Pirates for this, because they’re the ones who make the decision. The three options total 22.5 million (which might be a bargain at that time) The fact that we could have 9 years of Jose Tabata for about 33 million dollars is a better deal than any burrito or nachos at Taco Bell. Since being called up to the majors, Jose Tabata has played in 180 games, so that’s basically one full year (a tad over). During that time according to fangraphs (http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2411&position=OF) he has accumulated 3.7 WAR (wins above replacement). In the free agent market, 1 WAR usually costs ~5 million dollars. If next year Tabata gets no better and just keeps doing what he does and stays healthy and produces 3.7 WAR he will have paid off his first six year of his contract in one year. It is entirely reasonable to expect him to do that. He’s not due for any regression and should continue to get better. He turned 23 this month, and baseball players usually hit their prime around 26-29 (through all of which we have the option to retain Tabata’s services) On top of all of this, I love Jose Tabata. He seems a legit human being and loves baseball. If you haven’t seen it yet, look up videos of his press conference where he says in broken English "I love Pittsburgh, and I want to stay here for a really long time". Also look up the video where he talks about playing his first major league game in tears. Recently Tabata has asked to wear Clemente’s jersey for just one day because he is his hero. I am all for this, especially now, because with this deal Tabata has proven his loyalty and reverence to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Here’s to hoping he wins championships out there in RF, just like his idol.