McLouth, Pirates agree to $15.75M, three-year contract

[madinmaryland]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/17/mclouth.pirates.ap/index.html

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Outfielder Nate McLouth reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday on a $15.75 million, three-year contract that includes a team option for 2012.

The agreement was struck hours before the scheduled start of a salary arbitration hearing in Phoenix.

McLouth hit .276 last season with 26 home runs and 94 RBIs. He was on the NL All-Star team and won a Gold Glove in center field.

He gets a $1.5 million signing bonus and salaries of $2 million this year, $4.5 million in 2010 and $6.5 million in 2011. Pittsburgh has a $10.65 million option for 2012 with a $1.25 million buyout.

McLouth was eligible for arbitration for the first time after making $425,500 last year. When players and teams exchanged proposed arbitration salaries last month, he asked for $3.8 million and the Pirates offered $2.75 million.



:woohoo: Maybe the Bucks will lose less than 90 games this year!!

[Kingofalldems]

1. He's a good player, the Pirates got a bargain

[Upton]

2. Wow, that sounds exciting

now he'll be trade bait in July, as by that time the Pirates will already be out of contention. For that matter, the Pirates are usually out of contention by the end of April.

[madinmaryland]

3. You're off by a year, cboy. He go in July 2010.

And isn't it me that says that Pirates are already out of contention for this year??

[Upton]

4. I thought you'd be interested to know

if you didn't already, the Pirates have had 16 consecutive losing seasons.

My question is this....are things ever going to turn around there? Other small market teams have made a go of it.

[madinmaryland]

5. Yes, cboy, I know that this will be season #17.

Ask the owner de jour.

[MrPerson]

6. Yes but we have the Steelers.

And baseball is not really a sport.

[cboy4]

7. How do the Pirates have 16 million sitting around?

Hot dogs are going to cost $15 this year in Pittsburgh.

[madinmaryland]

8. That's their cut of the revenue sharing (from the Skankees)

:shrug:

[MrPerson]

9. They have been making a profit for years.

[PRETZEL]

10. Again, hope springs eternal,

they didn't do anything in FA, mainly because they're cheap and not many marquee players want to come here, but the extensions of McClouth, Doumit, and Maholm were good moves.

Nate reminds me alot of Andy VanSlyke, who was as good a defensive CF as I've seen. Doumit may be better served playing some other position, but we have no better options. Maholm was consistent last year and pitched pretty well overall.

Maybe, just maybe, under Kerrigan's tutoring, Ian Snell will learn to be more consistent, Zach Duke will learn how to pitch again, and so on.

Maybe, just maybe