Pittsburgh Pirates Get a Bargain with Extension of Jose Tabata

I can't say that I was a great fan of trading Xavier Nady to the New York Yankees for then-prospect Jose Tabata (and some pitching) in 2008. Part of the reason was Tabata's personal problems, including a former wife who, let's say, made the wrong kind of headlines.

But the Pirates took him under their wing and stood by him during his most troubled times, for which he appears to be grateful. Recently, he expressed that gratitude by signing a contract extension with the Pirates out to 2016 and giving the club an option for three more years—2017, 2018 and 2019

Tabata appears to be a moderately-above-league-average player. The $37 million, three-year option, in what would have been his first free agent years, pays for that level of performance—at today's rates. The option is all in favor of the club, who has the sole right to walk away from that option if either Tabata's performance collapses or the market for baseball players does.

More to the point, the $10.5 million guaranteed Tabata in years four through six (2014-16) pays him at roughly half the rate that such a player might wangle in an arbitration. He does get a signing bonus of $1 million, and "accelerated" raises to $500,000, $750,000 and $1 million in 2011-2013. But that's a relatively small price for the team to pay for the arbitration year savings.

Tabata is not a star like Andrew McCutchen. But then, the Pirates won't be paying him a star salary. (It's true that the Tampa Bay Rays managed to sign a genuine star, Evan Longoria, some years ago for not a whole lot more than what Tabata will be making, but that's a testament to the team's negotiating ability.)

Tabata does represent what the club needs: a bevy of players at the second level, who collectively can get the Pirates over .500. (Paul Maholm, on whom the team has an option for $9.75 million, is another example. Such players would be called "Type B" free agents when they reach that level.)

"Locking up" players like Tabata doesn't promise the brightest of futures. But for the low-budget Pirates, such moves guarantee that the team will have a future.