My Conspiracy Theory

MLB.com reports that Sanchez and Wilson rejected the Pirates semi-homoerotic offer for them both to sign extensions (although that story has mysteriously disappeared from MLB.com, but trust me it was there earlier). Post Gazette says the Pirates pulled it back because of a lack of counter offers. But, the plot thickens... Wilson now says they were never given a chance to make counter offers, and were told the deals were take it or leave it. And now Huntington says the door is still open. Huh? If this post is confusing it's because I'm confused. And besides I thought the deal was fishy from the start. Why would a team that is looking to add prospects any way it can, want to keep the guy who can get them the most right now in Sanchez? I think the Pirates made the offer and made it public to get the fans off their back. I think they knew damn well Wilson and Sanchez would reject the deal. But now they can say, "See we tried to sign them they turned us down. Now we have to trade them." Plus, the deal would have voided Sanchez's big raise if he had signed it. Besides, who says even if they would have signed either guy would have then been un-tradeable (if that is that a word)?

But of course if I have thought of it, so has Neal Huntington.

Huntington also took umbrage -- again -- at the notion that the Pirates made the offers as a public-relations maneuver.
"There's only one good outcome for us in the PR sense, and that's if both players sign. For us to take a PR beating to make offers that weren't genuine wouldn't be a smart move. We made these offers with the understanding that we wanted these players to stay here. The first offer has expired. But, as long as they're Pirates, we'll be open to considering keeping them."