DownSwinging.com

There’s a good chance double-play combo in Pittsburgh is going to be a little different next year. The Pirates have announced that contract negotiations with their two 31-year old middle infielders, Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson, have both individually stalled. The Pirates have a club option with both players for 2010, both in the $8 million region, but entered contract negotiations anyway. Realistically, it appears that these negotiations were more of a formality. In both cases the Pirates offered two-year deals (2010 and 2011) for a decent amount of money, but in each case would cause the players to make less money in 2010 than what they would have gotten in 2010 had the club picked up their option.

So even though these two fellas are the face of the Pirates organization, (especially since the Nate McLouth trade) they really had no choice but to reject the deals. In truth, these negotations were merely an act of courtesy to Sanchez and Wilson, for the dedication to the team. It was also an indication to the fans, as if to say, “We tried to sign them, but they weren’t going for it so we had to let them go.” Now, I’m not blaming Huntington here, had he been able to get these two to take a pay cut then all the power to him, but naturally, things aren’t heading in that direction.

As previously expected, it now seems that Sanchez and Wilson are on the trading block. And this is where they should be. With the decision to trade McLouth, the Pirates made it clear that they were yet again going to try and rebuild the team, this time around new outfielder Andrew McCutchen. Not like they had much choice anyway. But as soon as that decision was made, Wilson and Sanchez became obsolete, old pieces to the puzzle that would cost the club too much to hang onto anyway. So even though it might have been nice for the Bucs to hang onto their shortstop and second basemen at a reduced price, the lack of interest from the players is probably a blessing. The Pirates don’t have great negotiating position, but they should find a team that needs one of the players for this year and next, and get what they can for them. Sometimes it’s hard to see players go, but the defensive qualities of Wilson and contact hitting of Wilson should warrant the Pirates the ability to pick up some future stock.