Never known for their big spending, the Pirates are planning some level of a payroll increase in 2024, GM Ben Cherington told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey and other reporters. “I’d anticipate us ending up above where we landed last year,” Cherington said. “Generally speaking, we expect that as we get better, the payroll will continue to climb with us. To some extent, it’s motivation for us is if we can actually push that as we get better.”
This isn’t different from statements Cherington has made in the past about the Bucs’ spending, and in some sense, there’s really nowhere to go but up for a team that has traditionally been at or near the back of the pack in payroll even during its last playoff seasons (2013-15). According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Pirates’ Opening Day payroll hasn’t ranked higher than 27th in the league in any of the last six seasons, with last year’s Opening Day number sitting at just under $73.28MM.
That 2023 payroll figure represented a notable jump from the Pirates’ $55.76MM figure at the start of the 2022 season, which might provide some hint about what kind of increase we might be able to expect this winter. A similar-sized bump would bring the Bucs into a payroll range of around $91MM, and since the 2024 payroll ledger sits at roughly $53MM at the moment, Cherington and company could have a comparably large amount of money to work with as they look for roster upgrades.
Expecting quite such a payroll increase is far from a lock, of course, and the Pirates are one of many teams around baseball whose revenues are impacted by TV broadcasting uncertainties. Mackey recently explored the Pirates’ situation, as the team seems to have the option of either letting MLB handle broadcast rights, or airing games on SportsNet Pittsburgh, the recently-rebranded channel that has been the Pirates’ cable TV home for years.
After losing 201 games in 2021-22, Pittsburgh’s 76-86 record represented a solid step forward in the team’s rebuilding process. The team’s extension with Bryan Reynolds in April was another important turning point, as both the biggest contract in franchise history and a clear sign that the Pirates want to start turning towards contending. Expecting the Bucs to make that leap in 2024 is perhaps a tall order, yet stranger things have happened, and there might be some particular opportunity within an unsettled NL Central.
It is hard to imagine this current Pirates pitching staff carrying a contender, however, and it seems clear that the bulk of whatever dollars Pittsburgh has available this winter will be focused on rotation help. Given the ever-rising cost of pitching and the Pirates’ multiple needs in the staff, it is safe to assume that the team will go after multiple mid-tier starters rather than splurge on a Jordan Montgomery-esque ace at the very top of the market. Reports surfaced earlier today that Jack Flaherty was a target of interest for the Pirates, with the former Cardinals standout looking for a one-year deal as he tries to rebound from a few underwhelming and injury-plagued seasons.
James Midway
Signing Ohtani
good vibes only
Ohtani to Pirates confirmed
Bucsfan4ever
Lol not the Pirates, not in this timeline
bigdaddyk
On my mlb the show he is a pirate
This one belongs to the Reds
Alternate timeline.
Slibb
The timeline where the Pirates won the WS in 2013
Unclemike1526
Nutting-Here’s 5 bucks. Knock yourselves out.
joew
I know it is a joke but Pirates need pitching now. Ohtani is not likely to be pitching again for quite a while.
Hemlock
Pirates Planning To Increase Payroll
…by acquiring Marco Gonzales.
holecamels35
Flaherty- 2/24, Belt- 1/10, Montas- 1/10 with incentives, and maybe trade some infield depth for another starter or sign Spencer Turnbull for 4M.
ohyeadam
Belts a good choice for 1B. I would add Donavon Solano as a 1B/2B/PH option, won’t cost much. Save a few bucks by going with Ryu and Clevinger instead
mlb1225
Well, just do it then. That’s all I have to say on the matter.
fre5hwind
Same here
Tabata's Adopted Son
1yr$/20M for Rhys with a $20M player option for 2025.
Macbeth
Rhys would be worth the overpay we’d need to secure him. Then leverage the farm system to acquire a young SP maybe from the Marlins. That team would do pretty well.
PiratesPundit51
1) Hoskins would want more term or more money for one-year term even with a player option.
2) This would take up the majority of the free agent money/budget. It’d be like buying a new Playstation 5 with expensive wireless controllers, then not being able to afford a good game for it, you’d have to just play whatever PS4 games still work on it.
3) If you prorated his fielding gaffes against that contract, he’d make about $3.23 (yes three dollars and 23 cents) per each.
4) He’s played 81 games per season in a bandbox, not 81 games in a stadium where RH homers go to die.
rct
Talk is cheap, improving the team won’t be.
solaris602
I’m all for it as long as none of that money is wasted on Jack Flaherty. There are still better options out there that could be had for as much or less than they’d pay that stiff.
Bnickles127
Mariners said the same thing, got better and made playoffs and decided to rebuild this year cuz owner is broke so take this with a grain of salt
YourDreamGM
Pirates fans can only dream of winning 54 percent of the time.
DarkSide830
Be still, my heart!
bbatardo
73M to 75M.
Mustard Tiger
More like $73.5M
YourDreamGM
Well our opening day payroll was higher than last years. If we didn’t sell off at the trade deadline we would have been just a hair higher.
martras
Whooo hooo, now, let’s not get crazy! They were at $72.28MM, not $73MM. Getting all the way up to $73MM even is a mighty big step!
admiral hopppaaa
I was going to say $73,000,001, but if it was $72.28MM as indicated below, they’ll come in at $72,280,001
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
Tommy Boy quote “Richard I knew it” “Ohtani is going to Pittsburgh to hit Bombs into the renamed Shoagahny River at PNC-Ohtani Park”
YankeesBleacherCreature
And single-handedly revitalizes the local steel industry.
rct
Ohtani want wingy
jimmyz
As someone who has lived most of my life in Pittsburgh I’m entirely ok with not having a constant black smog overheard from steel mills anymore.
TheMan 3
The local steel industry is doing far better now than it has in decades Yankees
Clairton and Edgar Thompson remain their respective areas largest employers
This one belongs to the Reds
Buffalo Bob in Cincy would never say that.
Youtube.com/@PINGTR1P
Please take Marco Gonzales and his salary!
YourDreamGM
They should be interested in Marco.
southi
Looks like they did take Marco Gonzalez
baseballteam
General Manager mumbo jumbo.
bigdaddyk
Trevor Bauer 2-25 franky montas 1 10
Wire to wire 2024
Bauer is done in the mlb
bigdaddyk
I don’t think so he is to talented
abcrazy4dodgers
COLA’s are real.
YourDreamGM
Now he is against the wall and will get trashed if it isn’t more than last year and 2025 more than 2024 etc. How about we have some areas we would like to upgrade and I expect that we will in the next month or two. Travis and Bob have provided us all the financial resources we need.
Fans are worked up about them not making in major moves yet. Ease their pain.
I want the best possible team. Hopefully payroll is less than last year because that means you got young talent with multiple years of control. Much prefer that instead of signing 1 year hope they have a bounce back just so they can leave next year but hey look we spent more money.
jimmyz
100%. I don’t care about payroll increases year to year, just win total increases.
PiratesPundit51
There are so money people who think that spending money to spend money means winning. I suggest those folks look at the Mets’ record prior to the trade deadline. Spending on Hoskins, for example, could be as much as $20M per year for a 2 WAR player (on average throughout his career). His best season is 2.9 WAR, so you spend $20M to go to 79-83.
Keep in mind that 1 WAR was worth roughly $5 million over the past few years. For $20M, you should be counting on a solid 3.5 WAR return and if you can’t get that, you shouldn’t be paying that.
Mikenmn
I’d really be interested in a metric that shows how much a team spent on payroll adjusted for their total revenues and recurring (non-payroll related) expenses.
PiratesPundit51
That would be interesting, I can tell you with 100% assurance that a $100 million Pirates MLB payroll + other expenses would be a higher percentage of overall revenue than a $250 million Yankees team. The Yankees had $657 million in revenue not that long ago (2021 or 2022). I can’t imagine the Pirates bringing in more than $250 million in one of their better years, can’t imagine much less than $50 million in operating expenses.
While it is true that the Pirates could conceivably run $130 million teams out for a few years in a row, it wouldn’t be sustainable from a business standpoint. The Yankees could do $300 million every year and never come close to losing money. The Pirates could never do $300 million for even one season without making a cash call to the ownership group to keep the lights turned on.
davemlaw
This is good. I see them entering a contention window.
Dylan Cease makes sense for them in a trade. They’ve got plenty of prospects.
southi
So if 2023 opening day payroll was at 73.28 million we can probably expect 2024 opening day payroll to be about $80 million or there about.
I for one would not expect anything much above that.
steelerbravenation
This is the most uneventful Winter Meetings I ever seen
This is sad
Mercenary.Freddie.Freeman
Ohtani just needs to sign so the dominos will fall. He knows where he’s going. Probably did a week or month ago.
Tabata's Adopted Son
Until Ohtani signs, the biggest spenders are holding off on offers. And players want to wait for their offers.
mgomrjsurf
Why? Yes MLB Tomight not live all night,ESPN not their. Yes we need deals.
Dustyslambchops23
Arb raises lol
wvsteve
Hopefully that add a SP on a deal more than one year. My quess is they add another low cost SP left that hasn’t signed right before signing training and sign at least one decent bat
BoomersOwnEverything
Billionaires pretending that increasing payroll is somehow a luxury affordable only at certain times. Get real. The fans are just supposed to forgot all those marquee departures to save money when their window was open?
martras
The Pirates must be awfully thankful the Oakland Athletics are as big of a mess as they are. Takes some heat off being the worst destination in all MLB.
User 4095290658
The Rockies are the biggest mess in NL.
martras
The Rockies spend money (at least try to win) and are based in a very nice place to live. They’ve also made the playoffs in 2017 & 2018. They’re definitely a mess right now, but they’ll try to spend their way into competitive performance… in one of the toughest divisions (if not the toughest) in baseball.
martras
The Pirates are, without a doubt, the worst franchise in baseball. Oakland takes some heat off them, but only until they move to Vegas.
Not only are the Pirates among the least competitive teams year in and out, with the lowest payrolls, the biggest miser of an owner, but who wants to live in Pittsburgh? That team has nothing going for it.
TheMan 3
Living in Pittsburgh has no connection to the owner being cheap
Not everyone are baseball fans.
Do you proofread your comments before posting them?
User 4095290658
@martras Have you ever been to Pittsburgh?
I’m now very interested in where you live and which team you follow. LOL , if it’s the awful Rockies and you’re also a Steelers hating Broncos loon.
Wire to wire 2024
They better do something cause everyone else in the division is already better and currently making moves to improve their teams
Rsox
“Pirates planning to increase payroll”
Shhh, don’t tell Bob Nutting…
jonjaso
They better make sure they don’t multiply or it’s still gonna be at zero
joew
when ben was hired i thought it was a given payroll would increase
Sign Cutch for 5M
Sign Flaherty for 10m
Sign Belt for 10M
Sign in Bauer for $25M
with Bauer being a ‘long’ term deal would put the team in a good position to make a run for at least a wild card and still be well under a league average payroll.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Generally speaking,.the.more.you spend,.the better team you put on the field.
Isn’t that the way it used to work?
admiral hopppaaa
Not when the money is spent on Derek Bell
joew
ask the angels
iverbure
If that’s how it worked the rays would never ever be above .500 Oakland for 20 years wouldn’t have had competitive teams and Cleveland would be terrible since early 2000s.
angels fan for life
How much we talk about
TheMan 3
I’ll admit, I am disappointed that BC did very little to improve the team during the Winter Meetings.
Trading for a 32 year old pitcher and signing 2 other players, both of whom may not even be on the opening day roster.
The need for a first baseman and additional starting pitchers remains a concern
Granted the off season could still produce the needs but if it’s anything like years past, it will be players no one else wants or over the hill types
The pickings will become slim very quickly
User 4095290658
Apart from the Cardinals blowing their load on some VERY expensive, quite ordinary pitching and the Yankees being Yankees, no MLB team has really done much yet as the premium Japanese guys are holding up both pitching and hitting markets..
Chill out, TheMan3 – BC has made three low key quality moves that have improved the 40-man while spending jack shizzle so far on both prospect and monetary costs.
TheMan 3
Pitchers, a first baseman and an outfielder that BC said he was looking for, are becoming increasingly slim by the day
He said that they would increase payroll but that could be anywhere from $ 1 to $20 million but am certain it won’t be the latter