Stop the Presses!!!!

Well, to the surprise of practically no one, it has become clear that the Pirates, without actually coming out and saying the words (and if you are familiar with Neal Huntington's way of talking to the public, does that surprise you?), will not be exercising the $9.75 million team option on pitcher Paul Maholm for 2012. This means that Maholm, the longest tenured pitcher on the team, will no longer be pitching for the home team next season.

(By now I am sure you realize that the "Stop the Presses" banner over the Pirates NOT spending $9.75 million was written with tongue planted firmly in cheek.)

Of course, a very good baseball case could be made for not picking up the option, but the overriding sentiment will be that this is yet another case of the Pirates deciding to go cheap and not pay a player once he gets too expensive for them. And, of course, for a variety of circumstances, Maholm will leave and the team will get nothing in return.

Paul Maholm will never be confused with Steve Carlton, to be sure, but he was a good guy who took the ball every five days, pitched a lot of innings, and did it in front of a generally lousy baseball team. Here's hoping that he lands with a team where he will be what everyone says he should be - a productive fourth or fifth starter - and have a successful rest of his career.

Now, the interesting thing will be to see what exactly the Pirates will do with that $9.75 million that they won't be spending on Maholm (as well as the multi-millions that they won't be spending on Ryan Doumit when that shoe drops). If they end up spending nine million bucks on a guy like Jorge De La Rosa, as they were purportedly ready to do last year, then they haven't really improved themselves over what Maholm would have given them. Or, will they take the Maholm and Doumit money and apply it to a long term deal for Andrew McCutchen? Or, will they use it to sign another washed up stiff like Lyle Overbay? Or, will the money just be quietly designated for "player development", which has been the handy catch-all for Pirates profits over the last few years.