Thursday, August 19, 2010

Pirates sign 16-year-old pitcher

By Jeff

In another un-Pirates like move, the Buccos signed 16-year-old pitcher Luis Heredia from Mexico. The deal is worth $2.6 million, but Heredia will only see about $520,000 of that. The rest goes to the Mexican team that owns his rights.
Will he make it
to PNC Park?

The full story can be read here.

The signing is encouraging. Combined with recent drafts, it appears as though this management team is moving in the right direction for the first time in more than a decade. Pirates general managers of the past would not have signed this kid, who is already hitting around 93 on the radar gun, because of the money involved.

The work is nowhere near finished, though. Last offseason the Cincinnati Reds guaranteed more than $16 million for the services of Aroldis Chapman, and teams like the Boston Red Sox spend millions every year on international players. The Pirates are behind in the game. They must continue this recent trend and keep spending in the draft and overseas/across the border.

Once a solid core is developed, they then have to spend the money on good and established players if they hope to build a playoff team. That is the only way to bring winning baseball back Pittsburgh and Pirates fans to PNC Park every night.

AC/DC - Money Talks

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