I just don't get it

I like Jack Wilson. A lot actually, probably more than a lot of people. I'm willing to believe his 2005 season was more affected by that appendectomy that mostly everyone else I talk to. I love watching him play the field and I'm almost positive that no one in baseball works harder than he does.

That being said, I'm completely convinced that the people running the Pittsburgh Pirates have either lost their mind or are the most fiscally irresponsible people in the entire world. Jack had a great year in 2004 and was thusly rewarded with a 2 year deal worth about $8 million to cover two of his three remaining arbitration years. He had an awful 2005 in which he might have been the worst hitting regular position player in the National League not named Cristian Guzman, which was at least partly due to his appendix problems, but the Pirates still had him under contract for this year and next year before they had to worry about him getting away. Instead of using 2006 to evaluate how he bounced back, how he carries his new weight, and who the real Jack Wilson is, today they chose to ink him to a 3 year, $20 million extension covering 2007-2009. I don't have the numbers on hand, but I can't imagine anyone in the history of baseball has nearly had their contract doubled in such a manner after a .257/.299/.363 season. This is kind of like the Jason Kendall contract, only Wilson was in no danger of leaving any time soon and no one is completely sure which Jack Wilson is the real Jack Wilson (though everyone kind of has an idea given the fact that he's 28 and four of his five major league seasons have more or less looked the same).

I seriously feel sick to my stomach. I no longer have any hope that things can change as long as Littlefield is allowed to run the team. In fact, the longer he hangs around the more and more his tenure looks like Cam Bonifay's, minus the good scouting. As Yogi Berra once said, "This is like deja vu all over again."