Pirates' Salary Chart - The Pedro Years (Part 2 - Arb Years)

When we left off the last post, we were at the end of 2013 and the payroll was $54M. This post will look at 2014-2016, the arbitration years of Pedro Alvarez and other key players (Cutch-22, Tabata, Lincoln, Ohlendorf, and others).

2014
Position Player Est. Salary
C Sanchez $440,000
1B Jones $7,000,000
2B D'Arnaud $1,500,000
SS FA $8,000,000
3B Alvarez $4,500,000
LF Marte $440,000
CF McCutchen $6,500,000
RF Tabata $2,000,000

Bench FA C $750,000
Bench Friday $1,000,000
Bench FA OF $2,000,000
Bench FA INF $1,500,000
Bench FA OF/Rookie $500,000

SP FA $10,000,000
SP Ohlendorf $8,000,000
SP Morton $6,000,000
SP Lincoln $4,000,000
SP Locke $440,000

RP Meek $3,500,000
RP Uviedo $1,000,000
RP Moreno $440,000
RP Aguero $1,000,000
RP FA/Rook $500,000
RP Owens $440,000
RP FA/Rook $500,000
Total $71,950,000

Wow...that escalated quickly. The jump from $54M to $72M shows that eventually, in order to keep the gang together, Nutting will have to spend more money. Will the masses understand that the team will be low-cost up until 2014, though?

2015
Position Player Est. Salary
C Sanchez $2,000,000
1B Jones $10,000,000
2B D'Arnaud $3,000,000
SS FA $8,000,000
3B Alvarez $7,500,000
LF Marte $2,000,000
CF McCutchen $10,500,000
RF Tabata $3,500,000

Bench FA C $750,000
Bench Friday $2,000,000
Bench FA OF $2,000,000
Bench FA INF $1,000,000
Bench FA OF/Rookie $500,000

SP FA $10,000,000
SP FA $8,000,000
SP Lincoln $7,000,000
SP Locke $1,500,000
SP FA/Rook $500,000

RP Uviedo $2,000,000
RP Owens $1,000,000
RP Moreno $1,000,000
RP Aguero $2,000,000
RP FA/Rook $500,000
RP FA/Rook $750,000
RP FA/Rook $500,000
Total $87,500,000

If spending $72M didn't curl Nutting's hair, spending $87.5M surely will. Don't look now, but this is a legitimate MLB payroll. Under my assumption that no one would stay past their current obligation, this is Garrett Jones and Cutch-22's last year. You can see that those two, plus Alvarez, are $28M themselves...underscoring the cost of keeping key people. I kind of used a Ryan Howard/Prince Fielder hybrid for an arbitration guess on Pedro, by the way.

2016
Position Player Est. Salary
C Sanchez $3,500,000
1B Alvarez $12,500,000
2B D'Arnaud $5,000,000
SS FA $5,000,000
3B FA $7,000,000
LF Marte $3,500,000
CF FA/Rook $1,000,000
RF Tabata $7,000,000

Bench FA C $750,000
Bench FA INF $1,000,000
Bench FA OF $2,000,000
Bench FA INF $1,000,000
Bench FA OF/Rookie $500,000

SP FA $10,000,000
SP FA $8,000,000
SP FA $7,000,000
SP Locke $3,000,000
SP FA/Rook $500,000

RP Uviedo $3,500,000
RP Owens $2,000,000
RP Moreno $2,000,000
RP FA/Rook $750,000
RP FA/Rook $500,000
RP FA/Rook $750,000
RP FA/Rook $500,000
Total $88,250,000

The payroll stayed relatively flat in Pedro's last year, as he moves over to 1B to take Jones' place. Cutch-22 has, sadly, departed and his $10.5M comes off the books to be re-distributed.

So there's a rough look at what it may take to keep the core of this "dynasty" together. Ultimately, the number is what people want the Pirates to be spending in 2010 and it took until 2014/2015 to get there.

But that's what having a good, productive farm can do for you. If you have a guy who can replicate a season of a veteran, but you can pay him the minimum, you trade the veteran. I always use the lava analogy...when magma comes up to the surface and becomes lava, it pushes aside the old dried up material to force its way through.

I would like to think that somewhere within the bowels of PNC Park, Dan Fox and his team have done something just like this already.

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments....