Last night, the Pirates tendered all their arbitration-eligible players. Freddy Sanchez, Xavier Nady, Mike Gonzalez, John Grabow, Jose Castillo and Jody Gerut were all relatively easy decisions, but the Bucs also tendered B.P. Chacon and Humberto Cota.
Chacon's just horrible and there's really no reason to think he'll ever get much better, but he is at least nominally a starter, and the Pirates do need a starter and can't really afford one. I can't help thinking a more creative team would've done something other than agree to pay B.P. $4 million or so next year, though.
(By the way, John Perrotto's declaration on Monday that the Bucs were set to sign Japanese pitcher Masumi Kuwata may have been premature - the Red Sox now appear to be close to signing him. So he might soon be crossed off the list of potential fifth starters.)
As I wrote a few days, though, Cota is a waste of time. He just can't hit, and the Pirates would be far better served to use Ryan Doumit as the second catcher and getting a couple of minor league signees to play at Indianapolis, and to ride the pine in Pittsburgh in case there's a problem with Doumit or Ronny Paulino. Cota won't be paid much this year, so this is a minor issue, but the $500,000 or so above minimum salary they pay him is $500,000 they could spend on something else.