Thoughts on Gregory Polanco

I haven't posted on here in weeks, but this news about the Pirates offering Gregory Polanco a seven year deal was interesting enough to bring me back.

I'm certainly not the most well versed on baseball contracts and contract offers, but as far as I've paid attention I have never heard of a team offering a long term contract to a player that hasn't even made his major league debut yet. That's crazy to me. It's not that surprising considering what the team already did with Starling Marte earlier this year, he got a big contract with less than two years of service time under his belt, which isn't very common either - but they are really reaching down with Polanco.

Really to attempt to do this is a great idea in my eyes. Sure, he's an unproven player. You see big time prospects not live up to their potential all the time, so the Pirates are taking a calculated risk of spending a lot of money on a player they don't know is going to be anywhere near worth it. Obviously looking at the guy it would be tough for him not to be a very productive major league player, but you never know. The Pirates can save an insane amount of money by signing him now before his big league debut than waiting three years when the dude's an all-star right fielder and other teams are keeping an eye on him for when he gets closer to free agency. It's not like Polanco and his agent don't know that though - which is why they swiftly declined the offer (honestly Polanco would be pretty foolish to even think about signing a deal right now, in my opinion at least).

Just the fact that the Pirates are tryin to start conversations with Polanco is a good step for the organization in signing him eventually. That's a big vote of confidence on their part, which I'm sure players appreciate seeing. Any time you can make a player like your organization better you should do it, so even though the contract wasn't signed I think just the offer increases the chances of signing him in the future.

The other comments people are making is that they were frustrated with Neil Huntington stating that the decision to start Polanco in the minors had nothing to do with money, which is obviously complete bullshit. If Polanco would have accepted a contract extension he absolutely would have been the opening day starter in right field - but since the whole Super Two / arbitration thing that you hear so much about is still in affect, he's in Indy for at least a few more weeks. Fans get mad about that of course because they are impatient and want to see the best team on the field at all times, which is understandable, but I think people take it too far. If you think about it, even if Polanco is a 6 WAR player right now he still couldn't help the team all that much in two months. Say that whoever starts in right field results in a 0 WAR for two months and Polanco would be a 6 WAR player for those same two months (which isn't even the case - Snider, Harrison, and Tabata have certainly contributed positively in the WAR column). A 6 WAR difference over a third of the season is all of a 2 win difference, and that's the absolute extreme. It would be more like a one win difference, which is hardly worth risking losing Polanco a year earlier for - even if they are planning on extending him and not having to worry about it.

All that said, the news that the Pirates tried to extend him already is good news. They're trying to get him early and save money in the long term, which is undoubtably what the Pirates have to do to keep all their young talent. They simply don't have the funds to sign their big names when they hit free agency years, so they have to get them as early as possible. This even signifies to me that Polanco will be up sooner rather than later, which isn't surprising considering he's been the best hitter in AAA anywhere this year. You'll see him by the first week of June, and until then you can just deal with it because there's certainly a lot more wrong with this Pirates team than the production they're getting out of their right fielders. Alright I'll shut up for a couple more weeks now, thanks.