Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?

Yesterday, Pedro Alvarez finally put his signature on a contract that made him an official member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He seems to have an idea that there are some people in Pittsburgh upset at him for this, and he had this to say: "I'm so happy this day has come," Alvarez said in a conference call with reporters from PNC Park last night. "I just want to play baseball." [...] "I just want the fans of Pittsburgh to judge me as the professional player that I am now," Alvarez replied to a question on that subject. "I will work my hardest to be the best player I can be, to be a leader on and off the field in the community. It's a big day for me and my family. When I was a little kid, we dreamed of this. And the fact that it's a reality now ... all I can say is, starting today, I will be the best player I can be." If you have a chance, I'd recommend reading all of Dejan's article. And if you're one of the people mad at hi...

Pedro Alvarez is in Pittsburgh today , presumably to meet with the Pirates and sign his contract. The grievance still needs to be resolved, but testimony's been called off and it all seems to be a matter of procedure. Yesterday, Dejan made a point that I think is worth keeping in mind: All I will share on this topic is this, and you are free to do with it as you will: There never once has been a peep, not from either side, that the player did not want to join the Pirates. There never has been anyone who suggested that the dispute was specific to the team or its poor standing or the city, as opposed to the nature of what happened with the deadline, the agreement and all that. The past is the past. Let's move on.

I see a lot of people wondering if Pedro new Alvarez's contract is legal and if it will "stick." I did some thinking about this last night, and I think it's a pretty frivolous worry for a few reasons. First of all, Pedro became a member of the Pirates' organization as soon as he signed that contract on August 15/16th and the Commissioner's Office approved of it. A grievance was filed about the legitimacy of that contract, but the grievance hasn't been resolved yet, so Pedro's original deal still counts. That gives him the right to renegotiate just like anyone else, which is what he and the Pirates did last night. The leaves the question of the grievance, but I think the grievance is probably going to be dropped at this point. The grievance was filed over the legitimacy of the extension of the deadline, but by having the contract renegotiated well after the deadline, the deadline itself is rendered kind of impotent and the point of contention over the e...

Holy crap. On Sunday nights between about 10 PM and 2 AM, I get tied up in making my weekly rewinds for FanHouse and I don't venture to many websites beyond Getty Images or Creative Commons, unless I'm bouncing out to write up an incredibly overdue recap of the Sunday afternoon Pirate game. That means that I missed the Post-Gazette refreshing it's stories at midnight. Which means I missed this : In a stunning reversal of a summer-long drama, the Pirates and top draft pick Pedro Alvarez last night agreed to terms on a revised four-year, major league contract worth a guaranteed $6,355,000, according to three sources intimately familiar with the talks. Dejan has many more details in the article, so I'd recommend that you check that out. Without knowing who initiated these talks and who got this deal done, I'd say that this is great news for the Pirates that is going to make other teams very, very unhappy. The Pittsburgh Pirates' #1 concern has to be the Pittsburgh ...

Hey ... we won ? Gorzo is officially done for the year . Talk about a disappointing year. Jimmy Barthmaier, starter on WHYGAVS Night, will get his spot in the rotation. This is good, I'd like to see some more of him. Via Bucs Dugout , some ugly allegations are being made in the Pedro Alvarez situation from those close to Alvarez : Marc Cuseta, Alvarez’s former coach on the Bayside Yankees, a summer league team, said the discrepancy between the bonuses offered to Posey and Alvarez indicated that the Pirates were being unfair. “He’s obviously in a situation where, to be honest with you, they’re trying to take advantage of a lower socioeconomic kid,” he said. “It’s certainly not because he’s not well represented. He’s represented by the best agent in the history of baseball.” The difference in bonuses for Posey and Alvarez wasn't much, but there was a lot of "he's going to sign because he's from a poor neighborhood" kind of stuff that was being implied by both th...

Part one of the Alvarez hearing is today, but lest ye expect a resolution this afternoon, most people are now saying that there won't be a decision rendered for a while. DK is reporting that there's going to be two hearings for sure , one that seems procedural involving baseball and the union and a second one that will deal with specific signings. The first one is today and doesn't involve the Pirates or Alvarez at all. Kevin Goldstein also stokes the rumor fires a little more today by passing along a rumor that a second day pick that signed late for an above-slot bonus may have also signed after the deadline. Quenton Miller fits the bill, but it certainly seemed to me like he was signed well in advance of the deadline. That means it's possible and maybe even likely that a third team will be dragged into the wake of this situation (or a fourth team if you count Aaron Crow and the Nationals, who could be involved even though Crow didn't sign because they may have re...

From Dejan yesterday: The matter is seen by some as too complex for the one hearing scheduled for Wednesday in New York, and there already has been discussion that arbitrator Shyam Das will need more than one hearing in the grievance filed by the Major League Baseball Players Association against commissioner Bud Selig's office, alleging that extensions were granted by Selig for teams to negotiate deals -- including the Pirates and Alvarez -- past the Aug. 15 deadline. Apparently tomorrow may not be D-Day after all. Kevin Goldstein had a good write up of the potential outcomes of the case at BP over the weekend (subscription only). His best guess at this point is the same as mine- that the arbitrator will rule that the Commissioner's Office was wrong to extend the deadline, but that he has no jurisdiction over Alvarez and Hosmer because they're not MLBPA members. On a semi-related note, Matt Wieters is Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year . Feel that? I...

Are you sick of these things yet? I am Kevin Goldstein breaks down a history of Boras draft shenanigans at BP (subscriber only). It is a fascinating read and it really gives you an idea how smart Boras is and how much he's affected the draft. This kind of stuff is exactly why players hire him: he's always a step ahead of baseball on stuff like this. There are two conclusions to take from it that I think are worthwhile: even when Boras loses, he wins and in the past, even when arbitrator's have decided in Boras's favor, they often let the MLB exec board (the owners) decide what to do with the players in question. That certainly bodes well for us. In that same vein, Goldstein was on the Baseball Digest Daily podcast over the weekend talking about the grievance. And the union is now trying to argue that the Pirates got a special favor because of Coonelly's past work in the MLB offices.