NOTES:
1. All salaries in bold are official.
2. All ages are as of the start of the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates season.
3. The 2009 payroll estimate includes a $1 M buyout for Matt Morris.
4. Donald Veal is a Rule 5 pick from the Cubs. In order to make the team, he has to remain on the major league roster all season. If the Pirates decide at any point not to keep him on the major league roster, he must be offered back to the Cubs for $25,000. The Pirates can still work out a deal with the Cubs, allowing them to send Veal to the minors (like they did with Evan Meek last season).
5. The figure for Nate McLouth at the bottom is his YTD salary before the trade, plus his $1.5 M signing bonus from his extension.
6. Players in the minor leagues make $32,500 in their first year on the 40-man roster, $65,000 in their second year, and $97,500 in their third year. Any player with major league service time makes at least $65,000, regardless of how many years of service (EX: Jesse Chavez).
7. The Pirates have set a budget this year of $54 M. I assume this is in regards to their 40-man roster payroll.
8. AST stands for Approximate Service Time. I can’t vouch that all of these are correct at the moment. Thanks to Cot’s Baseball Contracts for the majority of these, as well as the majority of the ’09 salaries.
9. These figures don’t include potential performance bonuses.
10. Players who have option years in bold have accrued five or more years of service time, meaning they can decline any optional assignments.
11. The Pirates sent $400 K to the Yankees in the Eric Hinske deal.
January 24, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I found the ranking table intresting. It’s a commentray on just how bad the minors were that Alverez is already first and Grossman is up there as well Tabata.
What I’d like to see is where it rankes against other ML teams org’s.
At first glance it doesn’t look like is significantly better than what we have now on the big team. that of course can change.
I still don’t see where the pitching is going to come from for instance. And theres not alot of power there either.
I’m not going to rant about FO decisions as I do on the PMB as this is more a forum for business and minor league discussions.
But I do have to question the decision the give DUKE $2.2 mil.
Am I correct in assuming they could have given him his outright release? Given his track record so far and his totsal lack of improvement ( or even matching) on his rookie year, it’s appartent that they have several guys that they’d get similar numbers with.
For a team that practices such financial restraint, it was a curious signing.
KeithConto
January 24, 2009 at 6:55 pm
With Duke, the Pirates had options. Option number one was to non-tender him allowing him to be a free agent.
Option two was the one they took, to offer him arbitration. The outcome of this can either be that the two teams go to arbitration, or settle beforehand, and the Pirates chose to settle beforehand.
Personally I’m not a big fan of Duke. Aside from the fact that he’s inconsistent, we need power pitchers, and he is not a power pitcher.
I think the Duke signing is more a situation of the pitching market in baseball being high priced. If you’re a pitcher that has shown any level of success, you’re going to get at least $2 M. Take a look at Daniel Cabrera getting $2.6 M, despite a combined 5.23 ERA the last three years.
Duke would have easily received $2.2 M on the open market, especially being a 26 year old left hander who has shown success at the major league level, however inconsistent it may be.