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2016-2017 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Primer

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With the World Series coming to an end last night, the 2016/2017 off-season officially begins today.  Here is a quick primer of all of the off-season topics.

40-Man Rosters

Teams must reinstate players from the 60-day disabled list no later than five days after the end of the World Series, getting their rosters down to 40-men.  The deadline this year is on Monday.  The Pittsburgh Pirates have five players on the 60-day disabled list (Josh Harrison, Gerrit Cole, Chris Stewart, Elias Diaz, and A.J. Schugel), and three open spots. They will need to clear two spots on the 40-man roster this week to get the number down to 40.

The Pirates have several non-tender candidates, and guys who can be designated for assignment. A few of the guys who stand out are Brady Dragmire, Jeff Locke, Jared Hughes, and Eric Fryer. They also have departing free agents, although those players wouldn’t officially become free agents until Tuesday.

Teams must also make decisions on option years no later than 11:59 PM EST on Saturday night.  The Pirates don’t have any decisions to make with options this year.

November 18th marks the deadline for teams to set their 40-man rosters for the 2016 Rule 5 draft.  Here is a look at the Rule 5 decisions the Pirates need to make. Teams can make changes to the 40-man roster after November 20th, although they can’t add any new internal players to the roster between November 18th and the 2016 Rule 5 draft, held on December 8th.

My prediction of the 2017 40-man roster can be found here, minus the Rule 5 additions.

Arbitration Eligible Players

Teams have until December 2nd to tender offers to their arbitration eligible players for the 2017 season.  The Pirates have eight players who are eligible for salary arbitration this year. Here are the players, and their projected arbitration prices, according to MLBTR:

Tony Watson, 3rd Year – $5,900,000

Juan Nicasio, 3rd Year – $4,600,000

Gerrit Cole, 1st Year – $4,200,000

Jeff Locke, 2nd Year – $4,200,000

Jordy Mercer, 1st Year – $4,000,000

Jared Hughes, 3rd Year – $2,500,000

Drew Hutchison, 2nd Year – $2,200,000

Wade LeBlanc, 1st Year – $1,600,000

Once offers are tendered, the two sides (the team and the player) will work to reach an agreement.  If no agreement can be reached, the two sides file for arbitration, during the first two weeks of January.  Once they file for arbitration, the two sides exchange salary figures around the third week of January, and have their salary arbitration hearing during the first three weeks of February.  The sides can reach a deal outside of the arbitration process at any time before the actual hearing, even immediately before the scheduled hearing.

If the negotiations do reach the hearing, both sides will argue their case for the salary they submitted, and the three person arbitration panel will determine which salary is more appropriate for the player.  All decisions made by the panel are final, although the club and the player are free to re-negotiate the deal.

The Pirates are a file and trial team, which means if a deal isn’t worked out before players officially file for arbitration, then they will go to a hearing. This is a growing trend among teams to strengthen negotiations pre-filing. The Pirates avoided arbitration with all of their players last year, but went to arbitration with three players in 2015.

Free Agency

November 3rd at 12:01 AM EST marks the beginning of a five-day period in which teams retain exclusive negotiating rights with their players who qualify for free agency.  The Pirates have five players who qualify for free agency: Sean Rodriguez, Neftali Feliz, Matt Joyce, Ryan Vogelsong, and Ivan Nova. Pending free agents can have general discussions with other clubs during this five-day period, but can’t discuss contract details or sign with a new team until 12:01 AM EST, November 8th.

The big topic during this period will be the qualifying offers for these players. Teams have five days to decide if they will make a qualifying offer to departing free agents. This year the offer is $17.2 M for one year. If the player accepts that offer, the team gets him for the 2017 season on that deal. If the player declines and signs with another team, the former team gets a draft pick in the 2017 draft.

The Pirates don’t have a player who could demand a qualifying offer, or who could receive one (guys like Ivan Nova, who were acquired mid-season, aren’t eligible). There are a few departing free agents who could be re-signed, with Nova being the big one, although usually those guys hit the open market before making a deal.

Meetings

The two notable meetings that take place in the off-season are the GM/Owners meetings, and the more popular Winter Meetings.  The first two meetings provides an opportunity for the General Managers to meet face to face, and possibly start discussions on potential trades. Those meetings will be bigger this year, due to the expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the need to reach a new agreement. That will almost certainly lead to some rule changes.

The Winter Meetings take place on December 5-8.  The Winter Meetings usually mark the time when free agency starts to heat up.

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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