Top Pirates prospect Gregory Polanco will make his MLB debut tonight in a home game against the Cubs, leading PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW columnist Dejan Kovacevic to write, "PNC Park had better sell out. I’m talking every seat, every suite, every standing-room inch on the rotunda." Kovacevic: "Because after all this fuss, after all this bluster to the point of people concocting all kinds of stuff that had no foundation in fact, after all this oh-my-God-how-can-we-win-without-this-guy, we’ll know this was just a small, vocal group making all this noise. ... There are way more than 38,000 people in Pittsburgh to buy the remaining tickets to fill the place up." There are "no excuses, like they were when 8,000 seats sat empty" for P Gerrit Cole's debut (TRIBLIVE.com, 6/9). The Pirates are averaging 26,482 fans at PNC Park through 33 home games this season, ranking 18th in MLB (THE DAILY).
MONEY TALKS: In Pittsburgh, Bill Brink notes Polanco "turned down a multiyear contract offer from the Pirates in spring training, before he had ever appeared on a major league roster." The contract "would have removed from consideration the beginning of Polanco's service time clock." By keeping him in the minors to start the season, the Pirates "preserved another year of control over Polanco and made it less likely that he will become eligible for a fourth year of arbitration as a Super Two player" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/10). Also in Pittsburgh, Rob Biertempfel reports the deal that Polanco "turned down" was a seven-year, $25M offer. The deal "included three option years that could have raised the total value" to more than $50M (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 6/10). FS1's C.J. Nitkowski said, "The Pirates have always had to do things economically. When they have a prospect, somebody they think will last, six, seven eight years with their team, they wait late to call him up. They wait until the middle of June. That guarantees he will not reach super-two status. That means he will not reach arbitration eligibility within his first two-plus years. There's no definite date. You play it safe and bring guys up in the middle of June. To make it simple, less money they have to pay him earlier" (“MLB Whiparound,” FS1, 6/9).
