Julian Tavarez, Matt Stairs and Reggie Sanders were not offered salary arbitration and were not re-signed to contracts Sunday night, effectively ending their playing days for the Pirates.
Because the Pirates didn't offer salary arbitration to those three free agents by yesterday's midnight deadline, they lose negotiating rights and any realistic chance of retaining them. Free agents not offered arbitration by the deadline are unable to rejoin their old teams until May 1.
The Pirates entered the deadline knowing they had virtually no hope of retaining Stairs and Sanders, who each are close to signing elsewhere. But there was a sliver of hope they would retain Tavarez, who received a contract offer last week.
Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield exchanged messages Sunday with Tavarez's representative, Scott Boras.
"It came down to a situation where (they thought) our offer was not satisfactory," Littlefield said late last night. "We decided to move on."
Littlefield told Sanders' agent Friday that the team wouldn't be offering Sanders arbitration. The same message was relayed yesterday to Stairs' representative. Earlier, the Pirates decided to decline arbitration to three other free agents: Pokey Reese, Jeff Reboulet and Pat Meares.
By not offering arbitration, the Pirates will not receive a compensatory pick in the amateur draft once Sanders, Stairs and Tavarez sign with new teams.
"We felt that if we offered arbitration and they accepted, it would be significantly more money than we felt made sense for us right now," Littlefield said.
The Pirates signed Stairs in December for $900,000 and Sanders in February for $1 million. Tavarez earned $750,000 after signing a minor-league contract with the Pirates in January. Under arbitration, they could have doubled their salaries for 2004.
In 64 appearances, Tavarez was 3-3 with a 3.66 ERA. He had 11 saves after taking over as closer in mid-August, and he didn't give up an earned run in September.
Stairs is close to signing with the Kansas City Royals and Sanders is being pursued by the New York Mets.
Stairs batted .292 with 20 home runs and 57 RBI in 305 at-bats. Sanders batted .285 and led the Pirates with 31 home runs and 87 RBI.
Littlefield doesn't expect the Pirates to be active in the free-agent market before the annual winter meetings begin Friday in New Orleans. They would have three openings on the 40-man roster heading into those four-day meetings.
The Pirates will enter the meetings trying to find a third baseman, closer, left-handed hitting corner outfielder/first baseman and starter for the back end of the rotation. With Tavarez out of the fold, the Pirates also will be looking for a right-handed set-up man to complement middle relievers Brian Meadows, Salomon Torres and Brian Boehringer.
