The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is reporting that the Pirates and Paul Maholm are talking about a multi-year deal, hoping to get it completed before their scheduled arbitration hearing. The Pirates would like to lock up Maholm for four years, buying out one year of free agency. With that said, a deal worth 4.5-5.5 million dollars annually would likely get a deal done. Maholm is starting to show signs of an ace, going 9-9 with a 3.71 ERA in 31 games. His salary each year could rise in the deal, which would likely make it more appealing to Maholm.

Let's say the deal is four year deal worth 20 million dollars. He could earn 3 million dollars in 2009, 4 million dollars in 2010, 5 million dollars in 2011, and 8 million dollars in 2012. The Pirates offered 2.65 million dollars to Maholm for the 2009 season, but buying out arbitration years and a free agent year certainly brings up the value of the player. We'll see what happens.

This story was approved by MLB Rumors.