LaRoche avoids arbitration

Adam LaRoche is going to get a nice little raise to $5 million in 2008 (up from $3.2M) and the Pirates get to avoid the hassle of arbitration (with him at least). This raise is pretty much in line for a guy going into his second arbitration season, so there's not much to talk about there. What there is to talk about is the talk that the Pirates are still working on extending LaRoche with a four year deal. Given that LaRoche is 28 and been an average hitter every year in his career save one, I'd be a bit hesitant to pull the trigger on a long term deal. We've got him under control through 2009. What's the rush?