All-Star first baseman Josh Bell has broken through as the Pirates’ franchise player this season, his last pre-arbitration campaign. Considering the 26-year-old’s days of making league-minimum money are on the verge of ending, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked agent Scott Boras on Monday if Bell would have interest in signing a contract extension with the Pirates. Unless the Pirates are willing to make an expensive long-term commitment, it doesn’t seem as if it’s going to happen.
“Pittsburgh really doesn’t have a history of giving star player contracts yet,” Boras told Mackey. “Maybe they will someday. They’ve had a history of signing players before they’ve evolved into stars.”
In Boras’ estimation, the Pirates haven’t shown a willingness “to go out and invest in a great young player for a long time,” though he didn’t rule out an eventual change in policy on the franchise’s end.
Pittsburgh has still never doled out a guaranteed contract greater than the $60MM it handed catcher Jason Kendall on an extension in 2000. The team has since extended several other players it viewed as cornerstones – including Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and Felipe Vazquez in recent years – to deals geared toward cancelling out the arbitration process and as many free-agent seasons as possible.
The Pirates haven’t gotten hurt on any of the McCutchen, Marte, Polanco and Vazquez deals, and they especially struck gold in signing McCutchen. The club inked McCutchen, then 25, to a six-year, $51MM guarantee entering the 2012 season, at which point he was coming off his first of five straight All-Star campaigns. McCutchen’s pact bought out his final pre-arbitration season, all three of his arbitration years, two free-agent years and included a $14.5MM club option for 2018. The Pirates ultimately exercised that option, though McCutchen spent the final year of his contract with the Giants and Yankees after a trade out of Pittsburgh. Still, he was among the majors’ top players on his ultra-affordable contract – including during an MVP-winning season in 2013 – and wound up as one of the best, most revered players in the history of the Pirates.
While Bell has taken the torch from McCutchen as the face of the franchise, the Pirates would be hard-pressed to lock up the former to such a team-friendly deal. The Pirates would likely love to do that, but their low-budget ways don’t sit well with Boras, who told Mackey: “The Pirates are making a lot of money. The revenue structure of this game, you can go back and look at 2003 or ‘04, they’re probably making $100 million more than they did back then. Yet their payroll is within $20 million of where it was back then. The ability to do it is not the question. It’s the model, the choice of what they want.”
Boras isn’t wrong, as Mackey points out. The Pirates’ Opening Day payroll has climbed by just $20MM (from $54.8MM to $74.8MM) dating back to 2003. Over the same span, though, their listed revenue has skyrocketed from $109MM to $254MM. That increase didn’t lead to the Pirates keeping one of their prior high-profile Boras clients, right-hander Gerrit Cole, whom they traded to the Astros before the 2018 season. Cole was going into his second-last year of arbitration eligibility at the time.
It’s obviously too soon to write off Bell as a soon-to-be ex-Pirate. However, if the Pirates don’t present the slugger a long-term offer that at least surpasses (perhaps obliterates) the Kendall contract, keeping him in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future may not be in the cards. For now, Bell’s on track to head to arbitration on the heels of what will go down as a career year. Having slashed .302/.376/.648 (152 wRC+) with 27 home runs in 388 plate appearances this season, Boras believes Bell “has identified himself” as one of the game’s elite players and someone “every franchise would like to have.”
Link goes to the wrong Josh Bell.
Link to the failed Josh Bell haha
Like if you can’t stand Scott Boras.
How about a team whose revenue has increase so much, but barely puts money back to the team? Boras’ job is to get his clients as much money as he can.
It’s the owners job to make money like any company. Fans don’t have to go
The Pirates not paying to extend Bell has nothing to do with the fans at all. You are right that the owners should make money like any other business but part of the Pirates’ business model to make that money is to not pay its employees adequate wages relative to their performance, for example constructing a team pretty much entirely on rookie deals, team friendly extensions and low money one year deals.
Boras knows he’s screwed. Pirates have all leverage. He’s gonna look dumb when Bell doesn’t get a monster contract because he’s not a Free Agent until he’s 30 plus Bell likes Pittsburgh.
He’s right
Why? Is he wrong? Maybe last year they could have signed him to a long term cheap deal but now that he has broken out as a potential MVP type player he is gonna want a Harper or Machado type deal in his free agent years…
I never agree with Boras but he’s right here. Pittsburgh should invest in it’s players more.
Yeah I’m also not a Boras fan, but c’mon… it has to be frustrating to be a Pirates fan!
It is
They say smoking takes 10 years off of your life. I say try being a Pirate fan…
No wonder no one attends Pirates games. Bob Nutting is an embarrassment.
It is frustrating being a Pirates fan.
Their cheapness this year caused them to not sign lower tier free agents for depth.They would have been five games ahead if they had another starter and two relievers.
That being said they do consider giving reasonable contract amounts to key players.They did it with Russell Martin and then Francisco Cervelli.But Nutting runs this as a business and hence no crazy money like Philadelphia.Bell is such a good character that my guess is that he will get a very good offer at some point if he keeps up this amount of production.
The writer missed out on the one extension for a young player that did not work out- Jose Tabata
And Boras is basically just doing his job.
I would argue the Josh Harrison extension was a mistake as well. Though it wasn’t a huge amount, he never came close to repeating his 2014 season.
Ronn you are probably right but you and I know that hindsight is 20-20.
I am not sure how much the big contract dampened JayHay’s enthusiasm to get better.He did have to deal with a few mostly minor injuries.
Since this article was about young players before arbitration I only considered them in my first post.
Agree that they would have been in first place if they would have signed a few lower tier free agents. Bell is having a MVP year and Reynolds, Newman, and Moran are playing way better than we hoped and they are below .500 ? That should not be. Not a fan of Boras but in this case he is right.
Would you really consider the Cervelli deal as reasonable? He can’t stay on the field, first of all. He recently said he’s giving up catching. All the better, he gave up hitting as well.
Good point on Cervelli deal Cobe.I had mixed feelings when I heard about it late after it was signed for a couple of weeks.I still have mixed feelings,but I think losing Martin spurred NH to sign Cervelli.When healthy I think that we agree that he is a good ball player and a good catcherHe earned it for the first two years,and the Pirates May have had to do it to keep him until Diaz and Stallings proved themselves.
NH was wise in not giving Martin the fifth year.He really only earned his high amount of money the first two years.
I think Cervelli is such a high energy guy that he just wore out this year and the concussions really began to take their toll.His enthusiasm is contagious and I think that he was a very good find for NH who only gets credit for bad trades from too many Yinzers..Plus, catchers are at a premium.
I can totally agree with you on this
The deal was fine; this is the last year and he got hurt… if anything the mistake was not trading him last year or over the offseason once Diaz proved he could start…
The little jab Boras gives Pittsburgh was nice. Well played. Now all eyes divert toward the Pirates to see what they’re going to do with Josh Bell. Scott Boras at his best.
Pirates and nutting wont do anything he is so cheap
Hopefully they extend him just like they extended Jerome Bettis.
Good one….
I used to really hate Boras when I was younger and didn’t understand what an agents job was. Now, still don’t care for him, but have a great deal more respect for him now. Especially when barb’s like these get dropped.
what really grinds my gears is the follow up statement from Mackey “The Pirates’ Opening Day payroll has climbed by just $20MM (from $54.8MM to $74.8MM) dating back to 2003. Over the same span, though, their listed revenue has skyrocketed from $109MM to $254MM”. I get they spent more money than normal during their run between 13-15, but c’mon man! there’s no reason this team should have a payroll like that.
Also, can we really say the Polanco deal has worked out as expected, given the hype that surrounded him?
Their payroll is actually less than what it was in 2003 when accounting for inflation. $54.8M is $76,317,027.53 in 2018 dollars. You’ll be shocked to know that their revenue far exceeds inflation.
Give nine figures to a guy having his first good year after multiple disappointing years? Pass.
Lol nobody said 9 figures. It would be much less than that.
He’s 26. I’d imagine at this point the contract would run at least 5 years, maybe longer. 9 figures is absolutely possible.
27*
Where, exactly, do you get multiple disappointing years? His first year he only played in 45 games, that doesn’t account for much at all. His next year he hit 26 home runs and drove in 90 runs. Last year, i’ll give you was a down year. This year, slamming the ball again.
He barely has multiple years to compare. To say he’s had multiple disappointing years is spoken like a true Nutting.
Well put Cobe.
Spinach may very well be a troll with that type of statement.
I hate giving Boras credit but as a Pirates fan he’s 100% correct. There’s no reason the team shouldn’t be able to sustain at least a $100M payroll annually, and jump higher when in contention. But that’s how much they spent in their prime years earlier this decade. It’s embarrassing, even more so when you consider that similar small market teams do exactly what I described.
I’m a Cards fan, so I’m used to entitled fans throwing around the word “cheap” when describing them, so I generally roll my eyes when that word is thrown around. But in this case, it really is true. Pittsburgh’s owner is guaranteeing low support by not keeping his best players.
Yeah, it’s a football town. Yeah, it’s a smaller market for baseball. My wife is a private music teacher and we live in an area not known for that. So going in, everyone’s attitude is “well, this is only “our town”, not “St. Louis” so this is it”. They are defeated before they even begin. Stereotypes can be changed, but it takes everyone believing things are different.
The Cardinals are not that much bigger a market and they do phenomenally well with it because they’re consistent contenders. The Pirates have been good for a while now, and there’s no reason they can’t do the same. People are not expecting them to be in the cellar every year. But it won’t be long before that changes, and if the owner doesn’t start investing a little, they’re going to become the Pirates of old again.
Also a Cards fan, I get irritated with comments too. When they do spend and a player doesn’t work out they then blast the team for wasting money. Well which is it? Are they cheap or do they waste money? Obviously there’s a move or two I’d have done differently but it’s hard to argue with their success.
I agree Brandon. No team makes the right move every time. And throwing out tons of money at a couple of players that are NEVER A GUARANTEE TO CONTINUE BEING GOOD is a huge gamble that doesn’t always work out.
This team is very young and talented and really fun to watch. Enjoy it! There’s more good baseball to come
The pirates are cheap and as such their passionate fan base suffers from it. Your team needs new ownership badly
Has no interest in selling, unfortunately.
It is his cash cow that funds all his other businesses.
I think boras was successful in staying professional while giving a jab to the pirates org, as everyone has agreed they have been cheap over the years. With that being said, he’s having a monster year going into arb 1. Take it to arbitration, if I were josh bell I would take it year to year and try to maximize dollars over signing a team friendly extension….especially if he comes in with MVP hardware.
It’s so true. The pirates haven’t signed a true significant free agent that I can remember. They have typically been reclamation projects that have worked out. When you are a team that never keeps there own players, Cole, cutch, etc, the fanbase will eventually quit.
Cutch signed an extension, Marte signed an extension, Polanco signed an extension, Cervelli signed an extension…. and Harrison did as well..
Cole didn’t and is also a boras client. I don’t seem to recall the pirates ever signing/extending a boras client that was not a rookie deal.
An extension is not the same as signing a free agent. Not even close. An extension takes someone who will possibly make 500,000 and give them 5 million. Big difference.
it is the same as keeping your players though., that was the part i was speaking too.
sorry for the misunderstanding.
the time to extend bell was last year. It was painfully obvious his rookie year he was something else with his only real question being defense.
Last year he still did okay, but with poor(ish) defense and very little power, but it was clear he still had it. Boras is smart (for his clients) and wouldn’t do an extension when the value is low but the pirates could have pushed it and offered him a marte type deal. Giving him a 2-3 fWAR payday when he wasn’t even getting 1 fWAR. Boras and Bell probably wouldn’t turn that down unless they where very confident he would produce more.
Its a fairly large risk for the pirates when they try to play the margins. and the pirates have been burned a couple times on it. But when it pays off it can be HUGE.
Coming into this year, people were saying that Bell was a bust and that they should dump him to an AL team.
None of them ever heard of a sophomore slump, I guess.
They have to extend him this off season, though, or else he’ll be too close to free agency.
If they can’t, they will have to consider trading him eventually as it would be the most Pirates thing ever to keep him to try to win, have him play out his deal with the plan of offering him a qualifying offer….only to see them go away in the next CBA in the meantime…and lose him for nothing.
yeah those people didn’t pay close enough attention 🙂 Bell was pretty decent just wasn’t getting the drive… now of course still the possibility of a bust sure i’ll givem that but in my mind the only real question is if the defense would be passable. His defense is well below league average for qualified candidates but still much better than we had before and just eye balling it.. shows signs of improvement.
Not that i expected this kind of offensive explosion.. i was thinking more like .270 and 30HRs on the year type deal.. not .300 and 30 at the half lol.
For Josh let’s wait and see how the rest of the year goes.He had a historic May and the rest of the year has been fairly good.I like him because I think that he is a first rate individual.I hope that he considers a home team discount and that the Pirates see the marketing pluses in signing such a player.
I also think that he has improved his fielding to the point that he does a good job there.Granted,he still looks awkward.Look to Osuna if you want style in playing first base.But Josh digs balls out of the dirt well,he stretches well,and he is adequate on grounders.He May have to improve throws to second base,I’m not sure,but that is somewhat common for repositioned players.
If only Pedro Alvarez would have worked half as hard at his transition to first base.
Frankly, I wouldn’t been surprised if Boras simply laughed until he wet himself in response to the question.
I wouldn’t say the payroll is the problem with the Pirates this year. Spending money just to spend money isn’t a good idea, hence the Cubs struggles. With that being said, should the Pirates extend Bell? Absolutely, but I think saying not spending this past offseason is the reason they’re not in higher in the standings is not true. Injuries have been a huge problem and has depleted the rotation and bullpen, but the biggest problem has been Hurdle. Hurdle’s decisions have cost this club wins numerous times this year.
Hench the Cubs struggles? Care to elaborate? The money the Cubs spent the last two seasons was to fill specific holes. Namely the starting pitching. Darvish and Chatwood haven’t exactly worked out but it wasn’t spending money just to spend money. The Cubs struggles have had more to do with inconsistent hitting and bullpen. Missing Zobrist hasn’t helped either.
Signing Darvish and Chatwood to that amount of money made no sense. They could’ve got the same production out of someone else for far less money. Heyward’s contract has hurt them. They spent big money on Kimbrel coming off a terrible postseason, and he looks the same. They only added Kimbrel because of the Zobrist saved money, what can they improve with? My point was the Cubs have handed out more than a few bad contracts that many people saw coming and they’re now suffering from them. They don’t have the money to improve and they don’t really have the prospects to deal either.
Well said.
Sorry, but saying they could have gotten the same production out of someone else for less money is just crazy hindsight. At the time they were fair investments for good players. They didn’t work out. It’s what happens a lot of times but you don’t know that up front.
I guarantee you that Cubs fans were excited when the signings happened.
It’s Baseball!!!
Chatwood is a 5 ERA pitcher for his career? Who thought to give him almost 40 million was a good idea? Darvish is on the plus side of 30 and his ERA has gone up every year, as well as his hits. Also, he has a history of arm problems. The logic doesn’t make sense since they were hesitant to offer Arrieta anything close to the 6 years 126 mill Darvish got. There’s plenty of information to know up front, not to make these signings.
Always the same. If you spend and they tank you blew all that money. If you don’t spend you are cheap.
This is a good young team that’s playing well. Hopefully when they get a couple more guys back they will be even better. It’s Baseball and I love it!
I think that you have to spend money wisely.I think that Epstein is getting pushback from the owners because of his free agent signings.
Dervish was a good pitcher but was he worth that much money and that many years?Heyward is an excellent outfielder but is he worth half of that contract?Chatwood was a guess.
Neil H in some respects has it easier because he does not have the kind of money to spend on those players.His big chance this year was Jordan Lyles!GM’s should have free agent signings results batting averages the same as players do,and that is one of the things that they should be judged on.
True, he could have been better multiple times. But the players are who win/lose games. Hurdle himself might lose a few games per year based on his bad decisions. But the manager has NOT been the ‘biggest’ problem this year. Sorry
The few games he’s lost is what is separating this team from sitting in 1st or in the WC spot right now
In Clint’s defense the bullpen and the lack of depth have let him and the team down.
NH has absolutely no excuse in thinking that he had any depth this year.The low prices of decent free agent relievers absolutely gives NH no excuse for the lack of depth this year.
By the way,many teams,for whatever reason,have suffered numerous injuries that have affected their season.The teams with the most money can weather it more easily,but the Pirates could easily have spent another $19-$20 M and weathered the storm much better.
The Yankees were without many star players due to injuries but still were able to compete and eventually end up in first place.
The Yankees and the Dodgers are two teams that have the money to withstand numerous injuries.
DJ LeMahieu is the pluperfect example of spending a lot of money on a depth piece who through injuries becomes an all star.The Yankees GM should be congratulated for his foresight,but not many teams would have had that kind of money to pay a utility player,even one as good as him.
NH screwed up by not having adequate reinforcements for ANY inevitable injuries,but this year by far is the worst year that I have ever seen the Pirates have this many injuries.
I don’t think Boras clients ever sign extensions, unless they are on the Nationals. Moot point.
Carlos Gomez, Carlos Gonzalez, Jered Weaver, Xander Bogaerts, Jose Altuve, Elvis Andrus.
Boras is a lawyer that represents his clients/players the best he can as he should be.
What Boras got right/why he’s great at his job…
There is no reason the Pirates can’t extend Bell and there is no reason they shouldn’t. Cole was never going to sign here at any price, it was an open secret he wants to get back to the west coast. Trading Cutch was the right move, regardless of finances, as is now obvious. Bryan Reynolds is a better player, period with Crick as a nice bonus.
Bell is different. Unlike Cutch, his skill set is far less vulnerable to age. And unlike years past, when they were hindered by a local TV deal they signed before RSN rights fees exploded, they will have a new contract with AT&T Sports Pittsburgh.
But here’s why Boras was brilliant here…
NORMALLY, going into a negotiation by saying that they other side are a bunch of cheap losers would be a mistake. But Boras knows the negotiation isn’t him vs. Nutting. It’s him and the angry fan base mob he passed out pitchforks to vs. Nutting.
I think the Pirates will try to sign Bell. The question is whether what they consider a big contract matches what Boras and Bell consider one to be.
This is the offseason where they have to sign him if they are going to do it, though. 5 years $75 million with $20, $25 and $30 million team options (8 years, $150 million max) seems like a fair offer.
What Boras is a disingenuous tool about….
He doesn’t go as far in his comments here, but he didn’t have to because he has already planted the seed with previous comments. He would list the Pirates total revenues then subtract MLB payroll and call the rest profit. And a large portion of the “fans” believe that. That, of couse, leaves out taxes, salaries for scouts, coaches, ticket sales, etc, minor league expenses, and on and on…all of which also get deducted from total revenues before figuring out profit. Boras knows all of that but knows he can rouse the rabble who do not.
Also…
“The ability to do it is not the question. It’s the model, the choice of what they want.”
Boras has a model where he demands 110% of what his clients are worth. It often works out for his clients. But it often does not, as many of his clients have ended up without deals only to never recover the lost earning potential (Stephen Drew, Kendrys Morales, etc.) or chase more money and term only to settle for less money and term only to enter the market a year older (like Keuchel).
Boras’ job isn’t to do what is best for 80% of his clients and treat the rest like the broken eggs of his billion dollar omelette even if he personally does better that way, it’s to do the best for each and every one of his clients, but he makes “the choice” to leave many of clients as road kill alongside the road as long as drives home to a bigger mansion. That’s his “model”.
I guess people who live in glass mansions can afford to replace all the broken glass.
that said, the pirates are still pretty profitable.
The pirates payroll slide is more of a happy (for owners) side effect than a reason. with the way the CBA is currently structured the pirates made the right moves for the team and franchise. While the fans only see a loosing record and the team not spending money to fix it.
Next CBA (soon) may effect the way money goes in and out.. hopefully they’re stock pileing the money 1> to pay the MiLB players when they finally get a raise 2> to cash in on an even free agent playing field when the new CBA goes into effect… and/or 3> to go all in on (insert position of need) when they legit have a real shot.
Bell will have 3+ years of service this offseason. Freddie Freeman signed for eight years and $135MM with the same amount of service time more than five years ago. Boras isn’t stopping to consider 5/75 — especially not with a structure that gives the team affordable option years on multiple free-agent seasons.
He may sign for 5 years at $90m but the three option years at those prices will be his call.
The Pirates will never, ever spend 20% of their payroll on one player. 18-20M a year is way too much, I don’t care how good Josh Bell is playing right now. I love Bell, but the Pirates need to be smart about this. They have him on the cheap, so use him while you have him them deal him off. We aren’t talking about Cody Bellinger. Bell’s defense while improved, still sits at -0.6 WAR.
They also have Will Craig knocking on the door, with way better defense.
Bell is on pace for the first 40 HR season by a Pirate since Stargell and you’re worried about defense at first base?
Jury still out on Will Craig, power numbers are increasing but he still has only batted .260 in the minors. This low average may drop further in the majors. Hoping he starts increasing his average so he may still be a year or two away from ready.
Who really cares about 1B defense when he’s tearing the cover off the ball and getting on base at an amazing rate? He’s probably having the best offensive season for a Pirates player in a VERY long tim.
I don’t think that $18M for Bell is a lot more than the $14M that they paid for McCutcheon.
I do not trust those War numbers for defense. I am not totally for the offense ones either but they generally give a good estimate of the player’s hitting value.
The Pirates need to show their fans that they support them.A few extra million a year and keeping him will bring more people into the park.They need to keep at least one superstar and he will not be old at the end of a five year contract.
I am not sold on Craig as there are plenty of first base only types with some power out there.He will be ready sometime next year so that is too soon to be used in Pittsburgh.Plus,the Pirates already have Osuna on the roster who has a brighter future than Craig.
I would also hold off on any offer until Bell proves that this is not a one month or one year wonder caused by a juiced up baseball.
the pirates are liars, FC says when the time is right they will spend, like the offseason of a 98 win team? they spend but not w/o a corresponding salary dump…last year every team got the bam money, look at where our payroll is this year. they are always just 1 pitcher shy of a decent rotation with 3 years control over someone favored over ability. it’s criminal that our payroll is under 100 mil and should be around 120 mil…
Let’s see how Scottie screws this one up. Dude is slipping these days and costing players lots of money.
Listen this is very simple if your a true Pittsburgh sports fan, We don’t give guarantee money that’s why we never keep superstars If Bell plays great the second half like the first half don’t be surprised if he doesn’t get offered a crazy contract that the Pirates will never pay and he leaves The Pirates are a farm team for the rest of the league its sorry to say but its true look they were trying to trade Nightmare-Felipe Vazquez and if we don’t keep playing good when the deadline comes around he will be traded Watching the all star game last night and seeing Austin Meadows in the game made me sick to my stomach because knowing we gave him, Glasnow thats having a great year, and Baez is doing good in the minors for Archer that’s having the worst year of his career and we might trade him now so that will mean we gave 3 great players away for free. As long a Nutting is the owner we will never have a elite team like Dodgers, Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, Astros and the list goes on we will just be there farm team. Lastly regardless what happens the rest of the year Clint Hurdle and Neal Hunington need to go, Clint is making the worst calls during games I’ve ever seen since hes been coach and Neal doesn’t know how work with other teams they play him like hes stupid we need a staff change that knows what there doing to build a winning team. This team today is not because of Clint and Neal they are winning because there playing together with heart
You make no sense. Bell can’t sign anywhere else because he’s still signed with the pirates. Should the offer him a contract. Yes but I wouldn’t go over 7-115 and that’s with the team options and so forth. Second yes they listened to trade offers for Vasquez. You would be stupid not too. Imagine the dodgers giving up Ruiz,lux or may, plus one or two others. Yes I want to win now but we won’t with this management and everyone knows it. We could if everything came together at the right time but that’s far-fetched. The best thing we can hope for is a half rookie team that’s amazing, or management to change. I don’t see either happening, and it kills me to say that. But what you said makes no sense