Nov 2, 2013 By John Perrotto for The 3 min read

At least the Pirates got what figures to be their worst news of the offseason out of the way early.

Left-hander Wandy Rodriguez exercised the $13-million player option for the 2014 in his contract rather than take a $2-million buyout and accept free agency.

While Rodriguez might not be the brightest bulb and starting pitching is always at a premium, he knew there was no way he would have gotten an offer better than $13 million in free agency after making just 12 starts this year.

Rodriguez did not pitch after June 5 with what at the time was listed as a strained forearm by the Pirates. However, orthopedist James Andrews found arthritis in Rodriguez’s elbow during an examination in August.

A 35-year-old with an arthritic elbow seems like a recipe for Tommy John elbow surgery rather than a 200-inning season in 2014.

There were also rumblings among some of the Pirates’ brass last season that Rodriguez wasn’t a very hard worker and seemed fine with the fact he got paid just as much for being on the disabled list as he did for being on the active roster.

Rodriguez also didn’t endear himself to many in the organization during the Sept. 11 game at Texas when he was caught on camera fooling around in the dugout and laughing during a moment of silence to commemorate the 12-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in nearby Shanksville.

The good news, though, is the Houston Astros, who traded Rodriguez to the Pirates last year, will pay $5.5 million of the $13 million.

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The Pirates have no interest re-singing first baseman Justin Morneau and that is understandable considering he did not hit a home run in a combined 30 regular-season and postseason games after being acquired Aug. 31 from the Minnesota Twins in a trade.

However, it is hard to knock general manager Neal Huntington for taking a shot on Morneau. The Pirates were getting sub-standard production from their first base platoon of Garrett Jones and Gaby Sanchez and needed to try something different.

Mike Napoli is the first baseman on the free agent market who bests fits the Pirates’ needs but he has made it clear he wants to remain with the Boston Red Sox.

One free agent first baseman the Pirates should consider, if they can get him to agree to a contract heavily based more on performance bonuses than guaranteed salary, is Corey Hart. While Hart missed the entire 2013 season as he underwent surgery on both knees, he did average 29 homers a year over the previous three seasons.

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It was understandable why the Pirates and their fans were disappointed that center fielder Andrew McCutchen did not repeat as the National League Gold Glove winner.

Yet the voters got it right with Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez. McCutchen was great, but Gomez was greater.

On the other hand, Pirates catcher Russell Martin and left fielder Starling Marte had legitimate complaints about being snubbed. Nobody was better at their positions.