The Pirates and right-hander JT Brubaker have avoided arbitration, per Connor Williams of the Talk the Plank Podcast. Brubaker will make $2.275MM this year, per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Friday is the deadline for clubs and arbitration-eligible players to submit salary figures, with hearings set to take place in late January. Many cases will be resolved as that deadline approaches, such as this one.
Brubaker, now 30, pitched 315 2/3 innings for the Pirates from 2020 to 2022. He had a 4.99 earned run average in that time, along with a 23.3% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 44% ground ball rate. He qualified for arbitration for 2023 and made a salary of $2.275MM last year.
Unfortunately, it was a totally lost year for the righty. He had some elbow/forearm discomfort in the spring and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in mid-April, missing the entire season. That has led him to have the same salary in 2024 as he did last year.
He will likely start 2024 on the injured list and could return at some point in the middle of the season. The Pittsburgh rotation currently projects to feature Mitch Keller, Marco Gonzales and Martín Pérez, with guys like Bailey Falter, Luis Ortiz, Roansy Contreras, Quinn Priester, Jackson Wolf and Paul Skenes in competition for spots at the back end. Brubaker will jump into that mix whenever he’s healthy. He can be retained via arbitration for one more season before he’s slated for free agency after 2025.
Most underrated city in the entire country.
I do agree. Pittsburgh has amenities that punch way above weight class for a small city, and the cost of living is not bad. Baseball team sucks though.
Can’t wait for people to see PNC park at night and the three sister bridges with their new light packages.
Driving from the airport on I 376 ( parkway), approaching the end of the Fort Pitt Tunnel, and at night, upon your exit, the entire city lights up right before your eyes.
With PNC Park on your left, it’s lights in full view, it’s all an amazing sight
It was captured very well at the beginning of the first Jack Reacher movie.
Ahh, the best kielbasa. Whenever I pass through, I load up on my favorite kielbasa. Here’s to Phil and his staff for making it.
shame he won’t be playing for another half season (+/-) maybe its a good thing though. .he has not performed. He does generally better to start the season so maybe he can be strong down the stretch to provide some rest for the rotation.
Unless he does really well finishing the season I don’t see him being a pirate in 2025. Maybe the TJ ‘fixes’ him or he learned something knew with focusing on getting healthy and not worrying about the next game
He’s inconsistent. Sometimes he looks like a quality #3 starter, other times he barley looks like a #5.
He actually had a solid 3.92 FIP over 144 Innings of work in 2022, I’m hoping he can pick back up there instead of his ugly 2021.
What are the chances he duplicates that coming off the injury?
I am very surprised he was tendered, given what he costs for half of a season.
That’s the question, obviously. We will see.
I’m not surprised he was tendered, but he would have to come back even better than 2022 to get tendered in his last year of arbitration 2025.
At the very least, he could probably be a solid reliever.
@neal he just hasn’t been ‘that’ good. Never has been in his pro-career. Not saying he is trash or anything but if you are making any sort of run, JT’s previous performance is not something you would want to put out there every 5th day.
But again, you know players are strange animals.
normally he cant get out of the 5th inning
because his pitch count reaches 100 by the fifth inning
I’m always impressed with MLBTR Arbitration projections. They projected $2.28M and he got $2.275M.
They got this one right, but earlier in the off season salary projections were a bit low.
A+ Arbitration avoidance.
From what I’ve watched of his starts, you can do much worse for a 4-5 starter.
Yeah, he’s just inconsistent. Has some good stretches and some bad stretches.
This was the easiest of arbitration cost estimates as the arbitrators do not lower the salary even with an injury and lost time like this one.
I think that their extreme need for starting pitching and his better performance in 2022 made this a go instead of non tendering him.
He actually provided a great deal of optimism in spring training last year. His fastball was hitting locations and more importantly, his spin pitches were stellar, no longer hanging dead red
Then the injury.
I’m hoping he can regain that form.
according to a recent interview with Cherington, he’s only 50% finished with additions to the 2024 team
If true, does he realize that it’s already the middle of January and ST starts in 6 weeks?
The decent FA pitchers are dwindling down and the teams looking for starters are in competition with him?
He wanted to add another outfielder and pitcher
Who’s left that he can afford?
He was better while working in corrections.
Not a bad movie. Starred Redford, I believer, who may have been a better pitcher than this kid, too
LOL Redford was a fireballer before Barbara Hershey cut his career down by 16 years.
that’s what evil women do, cut your life down, sometimes longer than 6 years
Until the Pirates have some semblance of depth at SP, Brubaker is going to be in the conversation. There are at least 4 or 5 other teams who would have him written in marker in their rotation (Washington, Oakland, probably KC, Detroit, Colorado, to name a few). I feel better about Brubaker taking a few weeks or even a couple of months of starts over guys like Bido, Falter or Andre Jackson.
If someone passes him on the depth chart, the Pirates are in a good spot to deal him (provided he can prove he’s healthy by the deadline) and get a little something back between one of the above teams or a desperate contender who needs innings until their main guys get healthy.