But know this: The money is there.
A breakdown of the current 40-man roster commitments shows $18.1 million committed to five signed players for 2011: Chris Snyder ($6.25 million), Paul Maholm ($5.75 million), Ryan Doumit ($5.1 million), Wil Ledezma ($600,000) and Pedro Alvarez ($550,000). There also are five arbitration-eligible players with the recent release of Zach Duke, and they probably will wind up costing an additional $8 million. The rest of the roster, although subject to significant change, is made up of players with less than three years of major-league experience, meaning the team can assign any salary it wishes. That usually is close to the $400,000 minimum, which would make for an additional $7 million.
Grand total: $33 million.
That is about $20 million below where the Pirates can be expected to finish the year in 40-man roster payouts and, yes, should management choose to laser in on top talent, it can buy a de la Rosa or two.
Consider this, too, for those justifiably skeptical that the team will take that to the limit: No one on any side is likely to acknowledge this, but the Pirates probably must spend more than their $48 million total of 2010. Coonelly was successful in convincing the union in the spring that the team was spending appropriately for a young roster, but that stance will not last long. If the union does not like what it sees, it could push for an investigation similar to the one that prompted the Florida Marlins to finally raise payroll.