The deadline tonight to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players should be a simple exercise for the Pirates. The coming weeks and months are when things become busy -- and expensive.
"It's trickier once you get past [today]," general manager Neal Huntington said. "There's a number of guys who are going to see sizable salary increases because of the arbitration process, because of what they've done and the process that we go through."
The Pirates are expected to offer contracts to their 11 arbitration-eligible players, including Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, Tony Watson and Josh Harrison, by the 11:59 p.m. deadline.
On Monday, they essentially swapped one arbitration-eligible player for another: They traded for utility player Sean Rodriguez, sending a player to be named and cash to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange, and designated first baseman Gaby Sanchez for assignment. They have until tonight to trade Sanchez or he will be non-tendered.
Parting with Sanchez, the right-handed half of the first-base platoon this past season, indicates Alvarez will receive the majority of the playing time at first base. Sanchez, 31, batted .229 with a .293 on-base percentage in 290 plate appearances in 2014. He hit .256 with a .318 on-base percentage and three home runs against left-handed pitchers.
Sanchez was arbitration-eligible for the third time this offseason. He made $2.3 million in 2014.
In 87 plate appearances against left-handers in 2014, Alvarez hit .175 with a .241 on-base percentage, seven walks and 25 strikeouts. He has a career .196 average and .267 on-base percentage against left-handers. Huntington said Rodriguez, who bats right-handed, could play first base against tougher left-handers.
Alvarez, who briefly worked at first base near the end of the season before a stress reaction in his left foot ended his season, will not participate in winter ball to make up at-bats or take repetitions at first, Huntington said.
"It's very rare that you find an American-based, four-plus [year] player willing to go to winter ball, even if he's in the process of making a position change," Huntington said.
Rodriguez is the fourth reserve infielder the Pirates have acquired this offseason, joining Justin Sellers, Jake Elmore and Pedro Florimon. Rodriguez, 29, hit a career-high 12 homers in 2014, but also hit .211 with a .258 on-base percentage in 259 plate appearances. He is a career .225 hitter with a .297 OBP in seven years in the major leagues.
"We really like his defensive versatility," Huntington said. "He can play six places on the diamond and play it well."
Rodriguez is arbitration-eligible for the third time and made $1,475,000 in 2014. In addition to Rodriguez, Walker is arbitration-eligible for the third time; Alvarez, Mark Melancon, Travis Snider, Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart are eligible for the second time.
Harrison and Watson reached arbitration for the first time. Jared Hughes and Vance Worley qualified for arbitration as Super-2 players, meaning they rank in the top 22 percent of players with at least two years of major league service time but fewer than the required three years.
With the exception of Super-2 cases, players have three years of arbitration eligibility, beginning when they accrue three years of service time. If the player and team cannot agree on a salary for 2015, they exchange desired salary figures in January. If they still cannot agree, they make their cases to an arbitration panel, which awards the player one salary or the other based on his performance compared to other players in his service time class.
If the Pirates retain all 11 eligible players and don't sign any to multiyear extensions, the group's combined 2015 salaries could exceed $30 million, bringing payroll commitments for 2015 to more than $60 million. Adding the pre-arbitration players whose salary will be at or near the $507,500 major league minimum, the rest of the 40-man roster, and pension and insurance obligations, could send the payroll commitment above $75 million before the possible addition of any free agents.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: December 1, 2014, 3:38 p.m.
Updated: December 1, 2014, 8:27 p.m.
