Oct 10, 2015 5 min read

Enough with Pedro Alvarez, already.

Now that the Pirates have done their one-and-done routine for another year, big questions remain about how to take that next step toward becoming a division champion.

Who stays and who goes?

Alvarez made $5.75 million this season and he’s eligible for one more year of arbitration. If he had developed into the player he was expected to be, the Pirates would have made a major effort to sign him to a long-term deal.

After what we saw this season and in the abbreviated post season, they should tell him thanks a lot, wish him well and use the money it would take to sign him on someone – anyone – else.

The Pirates played their biggest game of the century on Thursday. Lots of smart baseball people thought that they could get to the World Series and win it if they could beat Jake Arrieta and the Cubs.

Alvarez, who, based on where he was drafted and how long he’s been around, should be the 21st century version of Willie Stargell, was on the bench when the game started.

Manager Clint Hurdle was so terrified of the idea of Alvarez being at first base that he kept his bat out of the lineup and replaced him with Sean Rodriguez, a lifetime .228 hitter with 49 home runs in eight years.

Alavarez ended up pinch hitting for Rodriguez in the third inning because the Pirates were behind. Of course, he struck out. He made up for that by striking out in his two other at bats.

If you make the decision that you have a better chance of winning one of the biggest games in your history by not playing a guy, why would you offer that guy a quarter to play for you next season?

The Pirates liked Alvarez’ bat enough to move him from third to first base, but his defense was so bad that his manager thought the chances of a big error were better than the chances for a big home run.

It’s time to say good bye to Alvarez.

• By the way, it is possible to win a World Series with a defensively challenged first baseman. The Pirates won one in 1960 with a guy whose nickname was Dr. Strangeglove – Dick Stuart.

• According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts (Yep, there’s a website for everything.) the Pirates have $50.6 million committed for next season, but they have some major arbitration cases to deal with: Neal Walker, Francisco Cervelli, Alvarez, Mark Melancon, Tony Watson, Jeff Locke and Jared Hughes. Cot’s estimates that the payroll will be at $90.6 after they get their raises. The Pirates’ payroll at the start of this season was $88.2 million.

If they’re serious about keeping up with the Cardinals and the Cubs, they will have to sign a free agent or two, especially if they maintain their policy of keeping their good prospects out of the big leagues for as long as they can in order to maintain control.

• Keep in mind that the Cardinals just signed a $1 billion TV deal and the Cubs are expected to sign an even better deal in a couple of years. Both have lots of good, young players and lots of money. The Pirates have lots of good young players.

• If the Dallas Cowboys had any class, they would postpone the return of their new pass rusher, Greg Hardy.

Hardy, if you’ll recall, was convicted by a judge of beating his girlfriend and had the conviction overturned when the girlfriend decided not to show for the jury-trial appeal. He was then suspended for 10 games by the NFL and had that reduced to four games by an arbiter.

Cowboys fans are excited for his return this week but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones should disappoint them.

A video of Hardy with rapper Ja Alan surfaced last week in which he raps, “What you see is what you get. I’m just me, I’m just real and that’s what I do.”

Then there is gunfire and Hardy says, “It’ll be a cold day in hell before your girl plays me.”

If Jones really believes in the NFL’s new-found interest in combating domestic abuse, he would make an announcement that went something like this: “We took a chance when we signed Greg Hardy. He convinced us that he had learned his lesson and would do nothing to embarrass our organization or the National Football League. But, because of the video that surfaced earlier this week, it’s become obvious to us that he is not ready to represent the league or the Dallas Cowboys and he will be inactive until further notice.”

If he were really serious, Jones would cut him.

But Hardy had 15 sacks two years ago.

Jones will be rooting as loud and as hard for him as everybody else in the stadium, including the women who will be inevitably wearing Greg Hardy jerseys.

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday sports column for the Observer-Reporter.