Pirates, Polanco agree to contract extension
It took more than two years, a lot of haggling back and forth and some questions about whether the Pirates negotiated in good faith.
However, the Pirates and right fielder Gregory Polanco have agreed to a five-year, $35 million contract extension that will take effect next season and run through 2021. Club option years in 2022 and 2023 would increase the total value to $58 million if both are exercised and escalator clause could push the total to $60 million.
Some of the particulars were still being worked out Monday, but there are indications that a formal announcement could be made as early as Tuesday night when the Pirates host the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park.
The team were off Monday after the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 4-1, on Sunday in the season opener.
The Pirates had a relatively easy time signing left fielder Starling Marte to a six-year, $31-million contract during spring training in 2014.
While Marte and Polanco are both Dominican Republic natives and close friends, the contract negotiations that started with Polanco at the same time were much more difficult.
Marte, like most players from Latin American players, grew up in poverty. Polanco, though is from a middle-class family in the Dominican capital city of Santo Domingo, where both parents work for the city police department.
Thus, Polanco was not as willing to jump at the first offer from the Pirates.
He took quite a bit of criticism from the media and fans for turning down what was being reported as a contract worth $75 million. He was portrayed as greedy by the nicer people and delusional by those with colder hearts.
However, that $75 million was not guaranteed. It would have only been worth that much if he reached all his performance bonuses and the Pirates also exercised all of the various club option years in the contract.
In actuality, the guaranteed money in the deal was around 25 percent of the potential value. Furthermore, there were reports that the Pirates tried to strong arm Polanco into signing by promising he would begin the season in the major leagues instead of Class AAA Indianapolis.
Polanco wound up playing 69 games at Indianapolis before making his major league debut June 10.
The Pirates are taking some risk in guaranteeing $35 million to Polanco, who has hit just .251 with 16 home runs and 43 stolen bases in first 253 career games.
However, there is no questioning the 24-year-old’s raw talent. If he develops into a star player, then Polanco will turn out to be a bargain.
Of course, there is no way of knowing for sure how it will turn out.
This much is certain, though: Polanco got a better deal by waiting two years.
Patience is indeed a virtue.