The Pirates not only have the lowest MLB player salary for 2020, it is the lowest for any club over the past six years.
This is according to a study conducted by the Associated Press, who found the Pirates' payroll was supposed to be $54.3 million in 2020.
Of course, these numbers will surely fluctuate because of the COVID-19 shutdown. The season will be shorter than the traditional 162 games, and players will almost certainly take a pay cut.
"Without knowing what a season looks like, it’s hard to calculate what that number will be," Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said in a recent conference call.
The last time a team had a lower opening day payroll was in 2014, when the Marlins had a $53 million salary and the Astros had a $45 million. This is the first time the Pirates had the lowest payroll in baseball since 2010.
That $53 million salary is a $24 million cut from last year's opening day figure of $77 million. The Orioles have the next lowest payroll at $61.4 million.
For the Pirates, while a good portion of their team reached arbitration for the first time, including Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, Joe Musgrove, Adam Frazier and Trevor Williams, raising payroll a bit, they had far more lucrative contracts come off the books. The two largest were Starling Marte and Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli made $11.5 million in 2019, almost all of it paid for by the Pirates despite him being released in August. Marte was traded to the Diamondbacks for two prospects and international spending money. He made $10.3 million last year.
Veterans Corey Dickerson and Jordan Lyles were traded midseason. Jung-Ho Kang, Melky Cabrera, Francisco Liriano and Lonnie Chisenhall left in free agency. Felipe Vazquez was also removed from the roster following his arrest in September.
Between those nine players, the Pirates had roughly $45.5 million come off the books compared to the start of 2019. In addition to paying the arbitration pay increases, their most lucrative free agent addition was Jarrod Dyson, who agreed to a $2 million base salary. Other players, like Derek Holland and Robbie Erlin, signed minor-league deals and will likely be added to the roster.
Their highest paid players for 2020 are Chris Archer, who was scheduled to make $9 million, and Gregory Polanco, who will make $8.6 million.
As the season continues to be delayed, MLB teams have been looking for ways to cut costs. However, the Pirates are not considering payroll reductions at the moment.
"In terms of the recent activity around finding savings, that hasn’t been part of the consideration," Cherington said.
The Player's union negotiated a $170 million advance on their 2020 salaries from teams in March in case the season was cancelled.
The AP also found that the average MLB salary was supposed to be $4.4 million in 2020, the same total it has been over the last five years.
