Kevin Gorman

But Tamar very much came out with, you know, he was considered a generational talent with his bat in terms of prep people.

They were talking about him being compared to – I mean, when he got drafted, they were talking about him comparing to –

The Ken Griffey Jr.

and Barry Bonds and Terry Pendleton, guys that were MVPs, saying that's the type of bat he had, the bat speed and the knowledge.

I think the big question with Tamar, kind of like with Nick Gonzalez and Henry Davis, it was not the offense coming up.

It was more that this is a guy who defensively has some catching up to do.

And it's a matter of whether he can play second base or shortstop or third base.

He's playing all three positions a little bit.

Or whether they have to move him to the outfield.

But I think Tamar is progressing.

I look at Tamar more as the sign that I took that Brandon Lyle is on a one-year contract, a final year of his contract.

Tamar is really going to probably be a guy that's in the mix to be the starting second baseman next year.

Let me put that out there.

I don't expect the salary cap to be part of the next collective bargaining agreement.

I think it's always the owner's stance from the start is that they want a cap and they want to have a hard cap and a ceiling and then have a floor with it that requires teams like the Pirates to spend more.

I don't see that happening.

So that's the one caveat.

But if there was a cap and if they did it right, you would have something like a Larry Bird role where teams would have an advantage to sign their homegrown guys by being able to give them more money than they can get in the free agent market.

I think that's the one thing.

that I'd be in favor of is for the Pirates having an opportunity to sign a Paul Steens and having an edge and being able to do so.