Pedro Alvarez, Scott Boras 'open' to long-term extension with Pirates

Signing Pedro Alvarez to a long-term deal makes no sense whatsoever for the Pirates, which is why Scott Boras, who normally isn't a big fan of pre-free agency deals, suddenly seems to be cool with it.

“We're open to the idea,” Boras said Friday. “I let the player make those decisions. We'll listen to everything, then determine if it's beneficial to Pedro's interests.”

That may be Boras' stock answer to the question of whether he's open to extensions, and it's true that he lets his players decide -- he allowed Jered Weaver, for example, to sign an extension with the Angels against his wishes. In Alvarez's case, though, it really doesn't matter what Boras thinks. I'd put the chance of the Pirates signing Alvarez long-term at just north of zero.

The Pirates have Alvarez under team control through 2016. Alvarez obviously has his merits as a player, but signing a big-bodied 26-year-old with three and a half years of team control to a long-term deal when he already has trouble batting .200 would be beyond ridiculous, unless Alvarez were to give the Pirates a steep, steep discount on his arbitration seasons. Of course, Boras is Alvarez's agent, so that won't happen, so there's really nothing to talk about.