Baseball is a business -- sometimes it's a downright weird one.
For the latest example of that, consider what happened Monday evening. The Pittsburgh Pirates reportedly agreed to trade franchise cornerstone Andrew McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants. Hours later, Ken Rosenthal reported the Pirates had agreed to a four-year extension with closer Felipe Rivero -- a deal that includes two option years:
Sources: #Pirates signing LH closer Felipe Rivero to four-year contract with two club options. Guarantee believed to be about $22M, with each club option $10M. Deal will cover all four arb years and potentially two FA years. Not clear if an agency was involved in negotiations.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 15, 2018
Rivero is one of the best relievers in baseball. Since joining the Pirates in 2016, he's posted a 2.10 ERA and struck out 127 batters in 102 2/3 innings. He would've been a free agent after the 2021 season, meaning the Pirates could gain as much as two additional years of team control. The Pirates also figure to save a fair amount of money, seeing as how Rivero was a Super Two player who would've had four years of arbitration eligibility.
All that is good and dandy. The reason any of it is weird is because the news concerning Rivero broke while he was reacting to the McCutchen trade on Twitter. Take a look:
🤦🏾♂️
— Felipe Rivero (@Rivero43) January 15, 2018
— Felipe Rivero (@Rivero43) January 15, 2018
Obviously there's no blaming Rivero for being sad and shocked about McCutchen's departure. But, boy, does it make for an awkward moment for everyone involved.