I should probably leave this one up to Gellman but I have decided to rant on my own. What is Pedro Alvarez’s issue? First he signs a contract with the Pirates, minutes before the midnight deadline. Th Pirates then get it send to the league office in a timely manner (ie/ before midnight). They set up a press conference and a batting practice at PNC Park to introduce him to the Pirates faithful, and what does Pedro do? I’ll tell you, he holds out for more money! Let me run that by you again, he holds out for more money than the CONTRACT THAT HE SIGNED only 12 days ago.
What is wrong with these guys coming out of college. Honestly his chances of making an impact at the major league level is almost nil. He has never faced major league or even minor league pitchers and he wants more than the record deal HE SIGNED FOR. My first beef with these guys is that they don’t sign autographs. Yep, you heard me right, guys who have no fans yet won’t sign cards. Now there are certain players who will, and are actually very nice about it (Brett Wallace, Kyle Skipworth, Dan Schlereth, Casey Kelly) but out of all the first round picks from this year’s draft no one else has sent back their cards in some cases running over 2 months.
Secondly, why are these guys getting so much money? I don’t get it. Almost all the players drafted got higher than slotted draft money. Freaking Posey wanted 12 million to sign. Are you kidding me? That’s more than most players at the major league level make. I’m sorry I don’t care if he hit 30 homers as a senior in college, he ain’t worth that kind of dough. So why is Alvarez holding out? How much more money does he want to extort out of the Pirates? $200,001 so he will be one dollar more than Posey? Come on, enough is enough, I can’t stand these guys holding out, I hate it in football and I would hate to see it happen to baseball too.
Like I said out of any one draft you might get 2 – 3 legitimate superstars, will Alvarez be one of them? Chances are he won’t. He is certainly not making any friends in the organization. See how well it worked for JD Drew? Just drop the stupid holdout and go play some ball so we can see if you are worth the extorted dollars you already signed for.

August 28, 2008 at 12:59 am
I am sure that in no way does Scott Boras have ANYTHING to do with this…;)
September 5, 2008 at 7:24 pm
what are you talking about? Scott Boras has everything to do with this situation. Let the guy play for 6 million or 5 or 4. It doesnt matter what he gets becasue in the long run, Pedro Alvarez is a legit baseball player and he will show off his talent when he reaches the professionally level when he gets signed, just like his companion David Price did, DOMINATE!