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Pittsburgh Pirates 2014-15 Off-Season Contract Situations

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The MLB off-season is full of potential moves, whether those moves are free agency, option years, arbitration eligible players, or non-tender candidates. Earlier this week I looked at 14 of the biggest questions for the Pirates this off-season, which detailed a lot of the potential transactions. Below is a list of players who are eligible for off-season transactions, along with some important dates for those transactions.

Pending Free Agents

5th Day After the World Series – MLB Players become eligible for free agency

Russell Martin

Francisco Liriano

Edinson Volquez

Clint Barmes

The Pirates will go after Russell Martin, although it might be difficult to bring him back. I don’t know if they will pursue Liriano, but I do think they should give him a qualifying offer. I also wouldn’t rule out Volquez or Barmes for returns.

Arbitration Eligible

December 2nd – Deadline to tender arbitration

Neil Walker – 3rd out of 4 years

Ike Davis – 3rd out of 4 years

John Axford** – 3rd out of 4 years

Gaby Sanchez – 3rd out of 3 years

Pedro Alvarez – 2nd out of 3 years

Travis Snider – 2nd out of 3 years

Mark Melancon – 2nd out of 3 years

Chris Stewart – 2nd out of 3 years

Tony Watson – 1st out of 3 years

Josh Harrison – 1st out of 3 years

Jeanmar Gomez** – 1st out of 3 years

Vance Worley* – 1st out of 4 years

Jared Hughes* – 1st out of 4 years

*Likely Super Two Eligible

**Non-Tender Candidate

The Pirates have a lot of arbitration eligible players this year. I was conservative with the non-tender estimates. I only went with Axford and Gomez, mostly because they both had issues this year, and were both left off the Wild Card roster. I don’t think the Pirates will keep both Pedro Alvarez and Ike Davis, although I don’t think they’d non-tender either player, since one of them could be traded. Gaby Sanchez is an interesting situation, since he’s now getting a bit on the expensive side for a right-hander in a platoon. I think Chris Stewart’s situation will largely depend on what happens with Russell Martin.

Beyond that, there are some interesting arbitration cases, such as the first year for Josh Harrison, the price for Travis Snider after what could have been a mini-breakout in the second half, and what Neil Walker will receive coming off a career year offensively, with declining defense.

Under Contract

Andrew McCutchen – $10,000,000

Charlie Morton – $8,000,000

Jose Tabata – $4,000,000

Starling Marte – $1,000,000

Out of Options

Charlie Morton

Pedro Alvarez

Ike Davis

Mark Melancon

Travis Snider

Chris Stewart

Vance Worley

Jared Hughes

Stolmy Pimentel

Jeanmar Gomez

John Axford

Brent Morel

Chaz Roe

The lack of options could impact the roster chances for Stolmy Pimentel, Jeanmar Gomez, John Axford, Brent Morel, and Chaz Roe. I think the others will make the Opening Day roster, despite their lack of options.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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