More on Huntington, Sanchez and Wilson

Is it just me, or is it the slowest day in baseball news history? Seems that way, anyway. So I circle back to where I began the day, which is with the Sanchez-Wilson deal. Just read Dejan Kovacevic’s chat transcript over at the Post-Gazette, where he fields this question:

Mr_Xiaoqi: How much did the whole Wilson/Sanchez contact negotiation look like a sham to you?

Dejan Kovacevic: Getting this one a lot. The whole idea that this is PR makes no sense on any level, first of all. The Pirates are losing out on this becoming public, in every imaginable way. Second, I have been told, in very strong terms, that they genuinely hoped the players would take these offers and stay. Did they undercut them, insult them, all that? That is up to you. But the idea that it was a “sham” implies, to me, that they issued offers they never wanted to have accepted. Hard to make that argument in Wilson’s case.

Seems to me that the reason they’re losing out on this becoming public is because it was a bad attempt at P.R., not that it was no P.R. attempt at all. If you’re not interested in P.R. you don’t issue statements tantamount to press releases about your contract offers and then speak even more loudly once the offers are rejected. In response to a question you say you’re negotiating. In response to a question about the status, you say that the offers were rejected. Every other statement Huntington has made on the subject seems designed to paint Sanchez and Wilson in a bad light and make the Pirates appear as though they are trying to keep two popular players around when the offers on the table suggest otherwise. That’s a textbook example of P.R.

And I don’t get the statement “But the idea that it was a “sham” implies, to me, that they issued offers they never wanted to have accepted.” It’s just as much a sham if he makes offers he knows won’t be accepted, right?


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Preston
14 years ago

I’m not really too down on Huntington for all this – I think what he’s really doing is making an offer, which I think he expected to be turned down, so that he could get out these statements about why he can’t go higher.  I don’t see him putting Wilson or Sanchez in a bad light because they didn’t take the contracts – as I recall, he said that it’s perfectly understandable and reasonable for them not to accept.  I think he’s just trying to explain to the Pirates fan base through his statements that there is a reason he’s not going higher than these offers.

J. McCann
14 years ago

I think Wilson will be lucky to get an offer that good in the off-season.

Sanchez will probably do better, the offer sounded like a real lowball on him.

dtoddwin
14 years ago

Wilson does not have a player option.  Sanchez’ option vest with 239 more plate appearances.  These need to be factored into the conversation, which was incorrectly stated on the NBC blog.