Major League Baseball

Do Alvarez and Cole deserve extensions?

Published Apr. 23, 2015 10:31 p.m. ET

foxsports

Winning and tough decisions go hand in hand. The Pirates have reversed the culture in Pittsburgh and became a winning team, but now the decisions carry more weight.

If the Pirates want to continue to win, they need to make strong personnel decisions and they have a couple big decisions looming in the next couple years.

Both Gerrit Cole and Pedro Alvarez are set to hit free agency in the next couple years and the Pirates have to decide whether to keep one, both or neither of the promising young players.

According to Rum Bunter, the decision to sign Cole to a long-term deal should be a fairly easy one.

“Cole is the youngest pitcher in the Pirates’ rotation this season, and is the second-youngest player on the 25-man roster behind Gregory Polanco. Youth is key to extending players for a team like the Pirates, which doesn’t have the budget of the bigger-market teams.”

However, Alvarez won't be such an easy decision and his days in Pittsburgh may be numbered.

“The better Pedro does, the more his trade value will go up. It’s a win-win for the Pirates if he does well in 2015. … Last season, Alvarez lost his starting role at third to Josh Harrison. With the extension given to Harrison, the team has committed to Jhay being the long-term solution at third.”

(h/t: Rum Bunter)

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