After the better part of two seasons, Gregory Polanco could tell Pittsburgh was a place he wanted to be. The Pirates had negotiated with him during each of the past two years, including the spring training before he made his major league debut, but the timing wasn’t right.
“Now I’m here for a year and a half, now I know the city, now I see how much the fans love me and the fans love the other players and the support they’ve got for everybody,” Polanco said.
Polanco sat next to general manager Neal Huntington as he spoke during today’s press conference to announce Polanco’s new five-year contract. Two option years could keep Polanco, 24, in Pittsburgh until 2023. Pirates chairman Bob Nutting, president Frank Coonelly, manager Clint Hurdle and Polanco’s agent, Rafael Nieves, also attended the press conference.
The contract begins in 2017 and runs through 2021. The club holds two options for 2022 and 2023, the season after which Polanco will be 32.
“It allows us to have him be one of our building-block players,” Huntington said. “It allows us to build around him.”
Polanco’s contract is worth $35 million guaranteed, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported that the option years are worth $12.5 million and $13.5 million, and the total package could reach $60 million with incentives.
The negotiations were “multiple years in the works and it’s been start-and-stop,” Huntington said.
“We weren’t in a position to make this kind of a signing 10 years ago, [in part because] because we didn’t have the talent in place to sign,” Nutting said.
Polanco has less than two years of service time, meaning the Pirates already had him under contractual control through 2020. The contract creates cost certainty for a Pirates organization that ranks in the bottom third in payroll. One rival evaluator said the Pirates did well in the deal because of the option years, where they could pay Polanco well below what he would earn in free agency if he becomes the player some scouts expect.
“When we commit to a player, it’s based on what we believe he’s going to do, how we help him get there and the probability of that player’s performance,” Huntington said.
Polanco hit .256 with a .320 on-base percentage and a .381 slugging percentage last season. He played in 153 games, and in 652 plate appearances hit nine home runs and stole 27 bases.
The Pirates have extended a player during spring training or around opening day in four of the past five years. Andrew McCutchen signed an extension in 2012, Starling Marte agreed to a contract in 2014 and Josh Harrison signed a new deal in 2015. The Pirates also signed Jung Ho Kang to a four-year deal in January 2015 with an option for a fifth. They could have Harrison, Marte, Kang, Polanco and Gerrit Cole all under contract through 2019.
Marte, who like Polanco signed an extension with less than two years of service time, advised Polanco to agree to the contract.
“He always says, it’s good for you because [you’re] insured for life and you play more confident,” Polanco said.
This story will be updated. Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: April 5, 2016, 4:15 p.m.
Updated: April 5, 2016, 8:46 p.m.
