Reds 5, Pirates 4, 11 innings

Yes, a nice move by both sides

It's a win-win. He receives his agreed-to-from-months-ago 2015 salary, and the certainty, if they retain him and not ship him to a receptive buyer in exchange for prospects, to earn bigger money in the coming years. A great PR move for the club in light of reports on how Polanco talks have stalled. Josh's back-loaded extension reinforces the semblance of assembling a genuine contender and commitment to winning. (Sound of one hand clapping)

I overall am happy JHay is sticking around, but why the rush? He was already under club control. Why not make him duplicate last season before giving him guaranteed money? Might cost a few million more, but what appears to be a good deal today can quickly turn ugly, i.e. tabata. Not saying they are the same player. But I would have felt more comfortable if they had waited until after this season.

Unlike the vast majority of moves the club makes, I think emotion definitely had a lot to do with this, and there's nothing wrong with that in moderation.

Even if Harrison is "for real", his skills aren't ones that get heavily rewarded in arbitration. Unfair, sure, but that's the system rewards big counting stats like HR and RBI, not baserunning and defense. Highly unlikely he'd be awarded more than what the club is now guaranteed to pay him.

From the club's perspective, this all comes down to the three free agent years. They're betting, in his age 31-33 seasons, he'll be worth well more than than $10m or so they'll be paying him.

Either way, this isn't any kind of money that should impact a thing they do. Good for Josh.

It could be a great move if he's 75-90% of last year or it could be the next Jose Tabata which everyone applauded at the time.

Reds Lineup:
1. Billy Hamilton (S) CF
2. Joey Votto (L) 1B
3. Todd Frazier (R) 3B
4. Devin Mesoraco (R) C
5. Jay Bruce (L) RF
6. Marlon Byrd (R) LF
7. Brandon Phillips (R) 2B
8. Zack Cozart (R) SS
9. Mike Leake (R) P

Care if I wildly speculate on something I'm almost certain to have wrong? No, I didn't think so...

What if this was a little message to Neil Walker?

Neil, we have the best player in the National League locked up until 2018. Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco will be flanking him in the outfield. Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano will lead a staff of young studs like Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow. Now, we went ahead and made sure Josh Harrison is part of this team as well.

We didn't guarantee him big free agent dollars or a lifetime contract, but he'll be paid handsomely and still get a another shot at free agency. You can be a part of this if you accept the same.

This was my initial reaction, but if you are talking extension next off-season the Pirates probably need to guarantee another free agent year, so the Pirates are paying for the increased certainty, and larger sample of performance.

I don't know, man. I think this was the nail in the coffin for a Walker extension. That's one of the reasons I'm surprised they did it now. It's a question that's going to come up for the FO and Walker the rest of the year. Had they waited, extension talks would have been a little more ambiguous albeit unlikely.

Fair to ponder though.

I'd like to see Harrison improve his walk rate. Take a bad pitch instead of swinging from his heals.

National Mart of Records,

That's a good plot for "The Young & the Restless" or "Another World."

I just don't think Pirates want to open the door to the kind of contract Neil Walker should and will get if he performs similar to last season. Dejan says there has been no serious negotiations between club and Walker over big $$$ and long term, and I believe DK.

Walker's gone and Pedro's gone after this year. Hopefully they bring back some young pitchers. BMTIB is just holding Walker hostage because of the hometown ties and desires. They "act" as if they want to resign Walker, but not at realistic prices.

Harrison's contract has little to do with Neil Walker.

I don't get "holding Walker hostage," Groat? What does that mean?

A less nefarious interpretation could be that the Pirates know that 2nd basemen don't age well, especially ones with injury histories, and realize it doesn't make sense to give big money to a post peak player.

That would never pass muster as an episode of "The Young and the Restless" or "Another World," Andrew. :-)

Good———I hope to be home right around that time!

Thank you, Rain!

We know you're Superman...but no apologies necessary!

We blamed Perrotto. ;-)

I agree with all this, except the part about not being sorry Duke won. ;-)
Duke seems to have a never ending bench of good players. For those two frosh to come through was the difference.

Tyus was consistently great all year. But Grayson really came through when we needed him. Probably should have been getting more minutes all year. Tremendous atmosphere in Indy. Go Devils!

I enjoyed these posts last year Tom. Hope they make it a little easier on themselves.

Forgetting the NFL draft?

Tarp coming off. 9:45

We will disagree, then. That's Roebling.

They are correct. Per the rule, the runner defines the baseline by the path he takes; he then cannot stray more than 3 feet either way from that line. The extreme example (and ignoring abandonment) is this: if I am on 1st, and want to run to 2nd by going out to the CF wall, tagging it, and then running to 2nd: completely legal. If in doing that, however, I avoid a tag by running 3 feet outside the straight line that I defined, I am out of the baseline and called out.

On the play tonight, JHay began his run at a slight angle into the infield seemingly to avoid the batted ball. When he dove to avoid the tag, he did so within the 3 feet baseline as he defined it, and therefore was legal.

Can't stand it. Those stupid kids need to get off my lawn.

Do you trust his D?

See above in these comments.

gotcha , thanks

Good stuff!

Nice!

Not yet.

Per MLB rules: "A runner is out when....(h)e runs more than three feet away from his baseline to avoid being tagged..."

Same section of MLB rules and same source.

Found this gem from 2011

In the last ten seasons, 80 teams have qualified for the playoffs. Of those, only three started the season winless in their first three games. The last team to do that was the 2007 Phillies. (The 2003 Braves and 2001 Cardinals were the others).

Wow. You would think three games out of 162 would not be all that important but I guess getting off to a good start is important.

It's only 2 games. And one series.