Pittsburgh Pirates Make Smart Decision With Travis Snider

The Pittsburgh Pirates have made a few decisions and none are surprising to us.  The Bucs tendered Travis Snider which was a good idea since he has rarely played healthy.  Since the ball club sent Brad Lincon to the Blue Jays sending many Buccos fans to the gates of Federal Street…well not quite, let’s say they ran to their keyboards to bitch about the trade, Snider has been a disappointment.

But I remember the team continuing to send Snider to the field when it seemed obvious he was less than 100 percent.  Kudos to Snider for playing through pain, but come on.  The 2013 season seemed different, he was just really poor offensively.  The foot injury seemed to come out of nowhere, but those types of things happen.

Snider deserves another shot, we have to believe it will be a small opportunity, but an opportunity nonetheless.

There was no reason to give up hope on Snider when the need in right field is a large one.  It hints to me that that the Bucs are going to go with what  they have which is Jose Tabata, Andrew Lambo, Jaff Decker and Snider.  The man who loves meat will probably get a million and a half bucks which isn’t a real big gamble for the hometown club especially when it won’t be guaranteed should he look awful in Bradenton.

Before you throw your arms up in disgust with the move and this shitty post think about a couple things.  Snider hasn’t done much with his opportunity, but just for giggles, remember how poorly Marlon Byrd played before his big season last year?  Did you predict the breakout of Andrew Lambo?

Some players need time and giving time to a player with the potential of Snider is really a no-brainer.

The other players who were due raises are Pedro Alvarez, Vin Mazzaro, Mark Melancon, Charlie Morton, Gaby Sanchez and Neil Walker.  The Pirates signed Chris Stewart to a one-year deal and avoided arb with the new Bucs catcher.

Taking a guess at expected bumps in pay is something that has been discussed online and looking at it we think El Toro gets a little over $4 million, Mazzaro near $850,000, Melancon around $3 million, Morton should get around $4 million,  Sanchez will get about $2.5 million, and Walker will get a bump to nearly $5 million.

UPDATE: Loved this tweet after post went up

is

Here is link to article by SABERBUCS on similarities between Moss and Snider.