Pirates' Sanchez and Wilson Unjustly Treated Like Stepchildren, May Run Away

The Pittsburgh Pirates' new management actually did a reasonable thing when they came on board. They started building for 2012.

That is to say, they lined up their best draft choices and prospect trades to be ready for 2012-2014. After that, players would become free agents, and there would have to be a new rebuilding cycle.

A low-budget team like the Pirates can't afford to have a contending team every year. They would do well to have a contending team every few years.

The problem was, veterans and basically anyone who would not be "affordable" in the target time period were considered "not part of our future" and treated as expendable. That's just plain wrong.

I learned that lesson the hard way in Pittsburgh.

When I was a senior, my high school hired a new principal. Two years after my graduation, the principal honestly but tactlessly confirmed what I had suspected: that my class and the class behind mine were "stepchild" classes, and he considered only the class entering 10th grade upon his arrival his "natural child."

There's something rotten in the two-year deals that Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson were offered, and it's not necessarily the money. It's the violation of the social contract.

For starters, Sanchez and Wilson are the bridge to 2012 and must be treated as such, and not as "stepchildren." This means that management must do more to make them happy than they have done so far.

By being offered only two-year contracts, they are being asked to "carry" the Pirates through the rebuilding years of 2010 and 2011 without being allowed to enter "the land of milk and honey" with them in 2012. The solution may be to offer them a chance at longer contracts, front-loading the money so that it will satisfy their shorter-term desires.

I will deal with Wilson first, since he is easier to analyze. Wilson, for one, wants to "finish what he started." Sounds like a man who wants the "gold watch."

Realistically, he is good for another three to five years. A three-year deal would take him to the lower end of that time frame, while the current two-year offer would leave him "stranded" for the last year or two of his probable career.

By 2012, he would have completed 12 years with the Pirates, the baseball equivalent of 25 years, and earned that gold watch. No one deserves it more.

Based on his current trajectory, Wilson will probably be worth more than $8 million in 2010, perhaps $8 million in 2011, and less than that in 2012, but an average of $8 million over three years. So we should offer him at least a third year at $8 million.

We may have to "carry" him in the last year. But that would only be fair, considering what he would have done for us in the meantime and in the past.

We should even pay him what he would be worth in 2013 as a utility player and let him call it a career. So call it a $24 million, three-year contract, with a club option in 2013 at $5 million for Wilson (and/or a player option for $3 million).

If Wilson wants one (and he probably would), there should be a no-trade clause so that he is not uprooted.

Sanchez is a tougher case. He is worth $12 million a year, but only for two years. I'd be willing to give him a longer contract for more total money but less per annum.

Here's where my "structuring" abilities come into play. I'd offer Sanchez HIS CHOICE of a $24 million, two-year contract ($12 million per), a $33 million, three-year contract ($11 million per), or a $40 million, four-year contract ($10 million per). If necessary, I'd even structure the payments as $12, $12, $9, and $7 (millions) to match his probable peak and decline.

Hopefully one of these offers will meet his preference (and keep Jack Wilson on board). If Sanchez rejects ALL of them, I'd at least have demonstrated my good faith.

Sanchez and Wilson are the bridge to 2012. They should be given the opportunity to enter the Promised Land along with the rest of the team. "Thou shalt not muzzle the oxen that tread out the grain."