The Pirates made Gregory Polanco's five-year contract extension official Tuesday afternoon. Neal Huntington described it as a "great day" for both the Pirates organization and the 24-year-old right fielder.
"This was a long time coming," Huntington said. "Both parties had Gregory's best interest at heart. It's an honor and very humbling to have him make this type of commitment to us as an organization."
With the extension, the Pirates are making a significant commitment to player whose ceiling, they believe, is much higher than his on-field performance to date. Indeed, Huntington described Polanco as a player to "build around," and restated the organization's philosophy that they pay for what they believe a player will do, not what he's done, and have high expectations for Polanco moving forward.