What Do We Have: Third Base

There might not be a guy that the club was expecting so much for, but got so little out of this season than Pedro Alvarez. El Toro was more like El Raton this season. Alvarez provided more rehab articles than any player in recent memory this past season.

I am sure that there might be some whispers around 115 Federal Street that Pedro might not have been as prepared as he should have been this season. There might be some truth to that. Just as I am sure that there are many whispers abound as to what the future holds for Pedro.

The team wants him to go to Winter ball, but they can't make him, which to me is a bit of a head scratcher. He does not have to go the whole time, but a few weeks would not kill the guy. Then again I am not a professional athlete, what do I know.

Also in looking into the future with Pedro, could a position switch be in the cards? Anyone that can make any type of projections about the future, can look at Pedro and immediately say, "Yes he will be a first baseman some day." The Pirates have a problem staffing first base, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

It might be a possibility that Pedro moves, and if so it will not happen overnight, but will take time to get him acclimated to the position, perhaps all of next spring and then some.

If the move does happen this offseason, I'd expect to see the Pirates sign a stop gap guy to hold down the fort at third. Someone that could platoon with say a d'Arnaud or Josh Harrison. If moving Pedro to first clears that position up, it would quickly make third base a very murky situation.