Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Pirates sign LaRoche, will not negotiate with Snell
He was absolutely abysmal for the first two months of last season, but he still managed to finish out with 21 home runs and 88 RBI. Adam LaRoche was the headline acquisition of the 2007 offseason, but never quite lived up to the hype. The Pirates and Neal Huntington apparently believe that he can do so, as they are reportedly negotiating a long-term extension with LaRoche and signed him to a 1-year, $5 million contract for the 2008 season on Tuesday.
LaRoche definitely has the talent to be an offensive power in PNC Park. If he can simply avoid a huge slump in the first half like the one that he went through in 2007, 30 home runs and 100 RBI is a realistic target. Also, he is the only legitimate left-handed bat on a team that somehow became overstocked with right-handers despite playing in a park basically designed for lefties.
The only issue I see with negotiating a long-term extension is that it basically says that
Steve Pearce is the RF of the future, something that the Pirates may not want to be so quick to do. For one, Pearce will be cheaper than LaRoche over the next four seasons, even if LaRoche signs this extension. Second, the Pirates’ outfield defense is already enough of a disaster with a gimpy Jason Bay in LF and either Ryan Doumit or Xavier Nady in RF on most nights. Pearce would almost certainly not improve outfield defense, considering that he is another player undergoing a transition between positions.
With that said, signing LaRoche appears to be the right move for Neal Huntington to make. Ian Snell, however, approached the team about a contract extension and was turned down. That is a move that makes very little sense.
Snell is going to reach very high arbitration figures, particularly if he keeps up his performance of last season. He is an ace waiting to happen and is the only starting pitcher on the Pirates’ staff who can turn in an absolutely intimidating performance (Gorzo doesn’t strike out as many and doesn’t have the same velocity as Snell).
Maybe Huntington was trying to motivate Snell by rejecting him, attempting to get inside the pitcher’s head. Maybe he just wants to see another year of solid performance. Whatever it is, the Pirates are going to need to ink Snell to an extension at some point if they expect to remain competitive.
If his performance does not drop off this season and the Pirates fail to approach him, then all of this stuff about a commitment to winning will have been proven to be more doubletalk from Pirate management.
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