The Pittsburgh Pirates inked pitcher Paul Maholm to a three-year deal that includes an club option for a fourth year on Thursday. Maholm is guaranteed $14.5 million: $3.5 million this season, $4.5 million next season and $5.75 million in 2011. He also has a $9.75 million club option for 2012, which could be his first free agency year. The buyout for that option is $750,000.

Pretty decent salary for Maholm as long as he stays injury free and can get over 10 wins for the club.

The team also finalized the contract with Eric Hinske that we blogged about yesterday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a new guy ont he roster as Eric Hinske has agreed on a one-year contract for the 2009 season. Hinske will be making $1.5 million for the year. Hinske will still have to pass a physical before the contract is final but all points point to him being the newest member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Many were expecting the deal to be announced on Friday but it looks like they got it done a day early pending the physical. I like the signing for the Bucs as Hinske can be a pretty decent hitter from the left side.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed Adam LaRoche to a $7 million dollar contract for the 2009 season as both parties avoided salary arbitation. Excuse me, I think $7 million for LaRoche is way more then he should be making. LaRoche in my opinions should be more in the $4-$5 million per year range. No wonder why the Pirates can’t compete, they are wasting a ton of money on players like LaRoche.

We will have an update when the Pirates hopefully sign the other guys that filed for salary arbitration.

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Finally the Pittsburgh Pirates have done something this off season! On Sunday they announced that they reached a three year extension with Ryan Doumit. The deal will buy out Doumit’s arbitration years so in the end it should be a very good deal for the Pirates.

The deal is calling for three years and an option on a fourth year. Terms were not disclosed but it is expected to be around $20 million for the four years.

Doumit, hit .318/.357/.501 in 465 plate appearances in 2008. His .858 OPS ranks him alongside catchers such as Joe Mauer and Geovany Soto.

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Some Pittsburgh Pirates fans will be happy to hear that Bryan Bullington has been called up by the team as they sent Marino Salas down to Triple-A.

Bullington had started the season off slow, but has picked things up lately as he has won his last three of four starts while only allowing two runs in his last thirteen innings of action.  Expect Bullington to pitch long relief out of the bullpen for now but ultimately end up in the starting rotation.

Salas who has struggled by giving up six runs in his last six innings of action was sent down.  Salas was sporting a 7.00 ERA and just wasn’t getting the job done.

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John Van Benschoten has been sent down to Triple-A Indianapolis by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Van Benschoten has struggled up at the major league level and will now get some more work down in the minor leagues.

To take his spot on the roster, the Pirates called up Marino Salas.  Salas is a 27 year old career minor leaguer who will make making his major league debut.  Salas had a 0.77 era in 22 1/3 innings at Triple-A.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have released veteran pitcher Matt Morris.  The Pirates have decided to go in the young pitching rotation direction and see how well that works out.  And to be honest, I don’t think that is a bad decision.

Morris struggled all year long for the Pirates.  A short season with a 0-4 record and a high 9.67 ERA, Morris was pretty much asking to be released.  The decision to cut him will cost the Pirates more than $10 million, besides what they already have paid him this season. Morris is making $10,037,283, or about one-fifth of the Pirates’ payroll, and has a $1 million buyout for 2009.

What do you think Pirates fans? Lets our Pirates Blog know what you are thinking about Matt Morris being released.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates front office and management sure have been busy the past few days has they have made quite a few roster changes.  Releasing players, signing players, and buying out contracts, the Pirates have been doing it all in the last 24-48 hours.

Juan Perez and Jaret Wright have been released by the Pirates.

Josh Wilson was designated for assignment while Jorge Valendia was sent to minor league camp.

Pirates purchased the contract of infielder Doug Mientkiewicz from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Byung-Hyun Kim’s contract was bought out for $300,000.

The Pirates and Braves have worked out a trade that will send Todd Redmond to the Braves in exchange for Tyler Yates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to make roster changes to their spring training roster and send players down as the big league club gets ready for opening day.

The Pirates optioned Kevin Thompson to Triple-A Indianapoli and reassigned Elmer Dessens and Casey Fossum to the teams minor league camp.

Jonah Bayliss was designated for assignment.

The Pirates also purchased the contract of Luis Rivas from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Byung-Hyun Kim has finally received the major league contract that he was hoping to sign as the Pittsburgh Pirates have inked him to a one year deal.  It is unclear how much Kim will be paid by the Pirates at this time.

Kim was only being offered minor league contracts until the Pirates called.  It didn’t have to take him longer then five seconds to tell the Pirates that he would accept their offer.  Anything to stay out of the minor leagues lol!

Kim will be pitching out of the Pirates bullpen, where they can get all the help they can get.  But Kim really isn’t the answer here if you ask me.

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