Pirates' Pedro Alvarez: A Superstar on the Horizon?

Pedro Alvarez, hes the next big thing.

When he's in the batters box and he's hitting the ball, you know it without ever setting your eyes on him. He's got that kind of pop in his bat, you know by sound.

Alvarez, the Pirates first round draft pick, is going to be a special player.

But will he be a special player for the Bucco’s?

We’ve seen this movie unfold before—Barry Bonds, anyone ever heard of that guy?

How about another third baseman named Ramirez? Okay, Aramis isn't even close to Bonds, but the guy is a superstar.

Moises Alou?

Brian Giles, to a lesser degree (much).

Jason Bay is gone too.

There's more, and you know them. You have shared the pain in seeing great or very good players leave the Pirates, and continue their careers elsewhere.

The thing is they all want to be paid—and well they should. The Pirates can't or won't—sometimes both.

I think we, as Pirates fans, hold back, on players. There are no love affairs with the big name players anymore. Some of us take to the smaller names and cling to them because they have better chances of hanging around Pittsburgh for longer.

When the Pirates got Jason Bay from the Padres in the Giles deal, I said to a couple of buddies, “Man Jason Bay is going to look great in a Yankees Uniform in a couple years.”

Well it turns out, it's the Red Sox uniform he's going to look good in.

Back to Alvarez.

-CRACK-

We have not had that kind of a swing in Pittsburgh in a long time.

Here’s a blurb from Jennifer Langosch’s Blog:

“I saw that swing, and I thought it was Willie,” Sanguillen said, referring, of course, to Willie Stargell. “It’s the same power, the same [bat] path. I’ve never seen that since Willie.” And the Sanguillen offered his prediction on Alvarez: “That kid—he’s going to be really special.”

Only time will tell if Pedro is the next Willie Stargell (there’s never gonna be another Willie, God rest his soul.), but as Pirate fans, do we dare fall in love with him?

Do we give him our hearts and soul, and then watch him walk away and become the next big Yankee or Red Sox free agent signing? Or watch him leave as part of the next fire sale going on in Pittsburgh?

Or maybe, just maybe, he will love Pittsburgh and the Pirates fans, stay here and will have the career that we all think he can, and make us forget all those that have gone on to have wonderful careers elsewhere and now just exist as a name in the Pirates fans memory.

Are you willing to take that chance?

*Jimmie is a Sports Jabber contributor.  You can view more of his works at Pittsburgh-Pirates.org.

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