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On Saturday, Gerrit Cole voiced displeasure with the Pittsburgh Pirates for their modest contract offer to the Cy Young-caliber ace. The team responded Sunday, admitting it made a mistake in how it handled negotiations.

The Pirates initially offered their No. 1 starter a $538,000 contract—a $7,000 increase in his base salary from a year ago. However, Cole’s earnings reached $541,000 after he received a $10,000 bonus for making the All-Star team.

So they were essentially asking the hard-hurling right-hander, who finished fourth in Cy Young voting last year, to take a pay cut.

“We made a mistake in the process,” general manager Neal Huntington said, per the Associated Press. “We didn’t have to move [the figure]. We felt they made a valid point, [and] we made the adjustment.”

Cole, 25, isn’t arbitration-eligible until next year and remains under club control until 2019.

The Pirates cited club policy to not exceed a pay raise of $7,000 for players who are not arbitration-eligible. Cole said Huntington and his staff threatened a salary reduction to the league minimum of $507,500 if he didn’t agree to their offer, per Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Cole was 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA last season and started for the Pirates in their do-or-die National League Wild Card Game against the Chicago Cubs.

The 98-win team from a year ago was vested in him, but it didn’t show as much in contract negotiations.

“When you perform at a level that draws the praise of management, teammates, coaches and fans, you expect appropriate compensation,” Cole said, per Biertempfel. “I understand the business of this game, but it is hard to accept that a year of performance success does not warrant an increase in pay.”

Cole’s agent, Scott Boras, was outraged by the offer. He acknowledged the collectively bargained system that keeps players under club control for eight years is flawed but argued other teams would’ve rewarded Cole as a sign of good faith, per Biertempfel:

What kind of message does that send to players? The best deserve the best. You should reward the best. I can’t believe that is a Bob Nutting-approved (salary) system. It doesn’t ring with the conversations Bob and I had when Gerrit signed. I would think Bob would want to reward a guy for a special performance. Other teams have that system. If Gerrit was with the Mets, he’d get well over $650,000. If he was with the Marlins, he’d get more (than the Pirates will pay).

Yet Huntington fell back on the CBA when making his case for why the team didn’t offer Cole more, per the AP:

Gerrit strikes a note that most people can empathize with. I’m sure there are many people in this world who don’t feel they are adequately compensated for what they do. The challenge we have is there is a collectively bargained system in place and it’s been in place for years.

Once you make an exception, how do you draw the line? If it’s only for MVPs, what if someone wins a Cy Young? Or what if someone finishes fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting? Some clubs have the ability to go in different directions, higher or lower. We believe our system is consistent and it’s the right way to do things for us.

Cole said he doesn’t want the Pittsburgh clubhouse to “question the virtue” of the organization, per Biertempfel, but the team’s ace and his aggressive agent will likely keep this year’s negotiations in mind when they are eligible for arbitration after the season ends.

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Gerrit Cole is a Cy Young-caliber talent for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the hard-hurling right-hander doesn’t feel as though he’s being financially compensated as such.

Cole, who isn’t arbitration-eligible until the next offseason, signed a one-year deal with the Bucs on Saturday for $531,000—the exact amount he made last year—with a $10,000 bonus if he makes the All-Star team, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune.

Negotiations were tense, as Cole said the Pirates “threatened a salary reduction to the league minimum” of $507,500 if he didn’t agree to their offer, per Biertempfel.

“When you perform at a level that draws the praise of management, teammates, coaches and fans, you expect appropriate compensation,” he said. “I understand the business of this game, but it is hard to accept that a year of performance success does not warrant an increase in pay.”

The Pirates’ initial offer was for $538,000—$7,000 more than last year’s pay, as it is club policy not to exceed that mark for players who aren’t arbitration-eligible, per Biertempfel.

Cole last year finished fourth in the National League Cy Young voting in a year when Jake Arrieta, Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw were so far ahead of the pack that any of the three could’ve won the prestigious award.

Yet Cole’s 19-8 mark with a 3.07 ERA and 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings over a career-high 208 frames in just his third MLB season showed he’s among the incredible young pitchers on the rise. 

The Pirates’ $92.3 million payroll ranks as the 10th-lowest payroll in the majors, per Spotrac. The Houston Astros are the only other 2015 playoff team that pays a lower figure, but they do so with young and cost-effective talent.

Cole said he doesn’t want his teammates to “question the virtue” of the Pirates organization, but it’s hard to imagine negotiations won’t be tense next year when the first overall pick from the 2011 draft can enter arbitration.

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Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang is working his way back from a leg injury he suffered toward the end of the 2015 season.

Continue for updates. 

Kang Unsure of Opening Day Return

Saturday, Feb. 20

Speaking with ESPN.com on Saturday, Kang disclosed an update on his leg.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Nobody knows. I know it’s not 100 percent yet, but I’ve been working hard. I believe it’s going to get better.”

Kang suffered the devastating injury in September against the Chicago Cubs when Chris Coghlan slid into him at second base as he attempted to turn a double play.

He underwent surgery for a displaced lateral tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus repair and was expected to miss six to eight months.

The Pirates brought Kang aboard from the Korea Baseball Organization, and he impressed in his first season with a .287 batting average, 15 home runs and 58 RBI. His versatility in the infield and ability to play third base or shortstop proved crucial, and he added some additional power alongside Andrew McCutchen in the lineup.

The Pirates will certainly miss that skill set if Kang is not ready by Opening Day. They’ll have to use spring training to find a suitable option to replace him if he is unable to go.

While Pittsburgh has some pieces to remain afloat, it plays in a loaded National League Central that features 2015 playoff teams in the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates need Kang back in the middle of the order if they hope to keep pace over the long course of the season, especially since they lost their one postseason game last year without him.  

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Andrew McCutchen doesn’t care if spring training is still a week away—he’s already in Florida, lifting, swinging and preparing to push the Pittsburgh Pirates even further than the 98 wins they posted last season. 

The 2013 National League MVP is embarking on his eighth season in the majors and leading one of the best teams in baseball. But Pittsburgh’s pitfall has been its inability to win the NL Central and being forced into the uncoveted Wild Card Game each of the last three seasons. It lost the last two, both at home.   

The Pirates’ grasp on McCutchen is only for two seasons, and he’ll be worth heaps more than the team-friendly six-year, $51.5 million extension he signed in 2012. 

The star center fielder has said multiple times throughout his career he’d like to remain a career-long Pirate, and he reiterated those intentions in a Monday interview with Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune:

I’m not too focused on it, but definitely I’ve mentioned it before. I’ve said it plenty times: this is a place that I’d love to be, a place that I’d love to spend my whole career, win championships and just be here. It doesn’t happen a whole lot in this game. But if the opportunity presents itself, that would be great for me, for my wife and, hopefully, one day, God willing, we have a family of our own. So, that would be really cool.

At 29 years old and fully in his prime, McCutchen’s average annual salary of $8.58 million is roughly a third of what he’s worth when comparing contracts of other players of his caliber. 

Bryce Harper, the most recent NL MVP, is expected to command a $400 million deal—if not more—when he hits free agency in 2018, telling 106.7 FM The Fan in Washington, D.C., “Don’t sell me short,” when asked how much he could command (h/t Jamal Collier of MLB.com). 

McCutchen is six years older than the 23-year-old Harper, but when healthy, he is just as gifted as the Washington Nationals star. However, he doesn’t correlate player value with financial figures:

People define us—baseball players, athletes—by our contracts. I think I’m worth more than some numbers that you throw up on a board. Anybody can get paid millions of dollars, but it’s what you do with who you are that matters. You may not make that much money, but you can still bring so much to a team, on the field and off the field. My teammates don’t define me by how much I sign for. They define me by who I am. They define me by my character. That’s worth way more than whatever the dollar sign is or however much you sign for. That’s what I feel is most important, as a player and as a person. What am I worth? I’m worth more than just a contract. I’m worth more than just money. That’s how I look at myself, and I hope my teammates and the coaching staff look at me like that as well.

McCutchen battled knee injuries last year but still played in all but five games and made his fifth straight All-Star Game. 

He said he’s entering spring training this year healthy and, as such, with a renewed sense of youth, per Biertempfel:

“I’m ready to go, as opposed to last year. That’s why I’ve been here [working out]. I’m going to be right and ready to go from spring training into the season. I’m looking forward to getting started. I feel like this offseason flew by. Baseball’s back, and I’m looking forward to it. My knee’s great, my body’s great. I won’t have to worry about that at all.”

The Pirates should once again be in the thick of the NL Central race, but the division will be just as competitive as it was a year ago, when for the first time in MLB history, it housed the three best records in baseball. 

In most years, the Pirates’ 98 wins would’ve far and away won any division. But with the young Chicago Cubs only getting better with experience and the St. Louis Cardinals retaining a chunk of their championship-caliber core, McCutchen and the Pirates might need to win 100 games to ensure they don’t play in the single-elimination Wild Card Game again. 

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have renewed their relationship with Chris Stewart, reportedly re-signing the free-agent catcher to a new deal. 

According to Robert Murray of Baseball Essential, Stewart’s new pact with the Pirates is for two years with a third-year team option. Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish confirmed the deal. 

The Pirates acquired Stewart in December 2013 from the New York Yankees. He’s served as a backup for the Pirates, first to Russell Martin in 2014 and to Francisco Cervelli last year, and he has posted solid numbers across the board.  

While not a power hitter, Stewart’s slash line of .292/.340/.336 in two years with Pittsburgh ranks among the best in baseball for catchers. Only San Francisco’s Buster Posey and Cervelli have higher batting averages, and his on-base percentage ranks ninth among players at the position since the start of 2014 (minimum 300 plate appearances).    

Stewart’s defense has also been decent, producing 0.6 wins above replacement (WAR) in just 107 games, per Baseball-Reference.com. It’s crucial for a backup catcher to provide solid defense and manage a pitching staff, and Stewart fits the bill.

Pirates ace Gerrit Cole seemed to develop a strong rapport with Stewart last season, as ESPN Stats & Info noted prior to a September game against the St. Louis Cardinals:

Stewart can be thought of as a bonus to the Pirates’ roster. He is one of the most underrated weapons on a team that is still loaded with talent despite losing Pedro Alvarez (free agent), A.J. Burnett (retired) and Neil Walker (traded to the New York Mets) from last year’s playoff group. 

If Stewart’s ability to call a game is what it takes for Cole to pitch like the No. 1 starter he turned into last season, the Pirates will be happy with whatever he gives them over the next two years.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Wednesday that they have signed first baseman/outfielder John Jaso to a two-year contract. 

At 32 years old, Jaso hit .286 with the Tampa Bay Rays last season in 70 games and will platoon with Mike Morse, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Stephen J. Nesbitt.  

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported that Jaso will be making $8 million over the two years of his deal. According to USA Today Sports’ Bob Nightengale, he will serve as one of the replacements for free-agent first baseman Pedro Alvarez, who won’t be returning to the team. 

But Jaso’s fielding at first base does provide a question mark. The veteran has only played at first base twice in his career and not since 2013, when he was a member of the Oakland Athletics.

According to Nesbitt, he originally told the Pirates he was willing to play outfield and be the team’s emergency third catcher.          

But general manager Neal Huntington told the media on Wednesday that the Pirates signed Jaso to be their left-handed-hitting first baseman.

“We feel the offensive upside is worth the calculated gamble that he’s going to be able to play first base,” Huntington said, per Nesbitt.      

The GM continued to say Jaso was “very interested in making this (the transition to first base) work. He’s motivated,” per the Pittsburgh Tribune‘s Rob Biertempfel.

Jaso has only appeared in 100 games or more in a season twice over his seven-year career. But his left-handed bat has proved serviceable throughout his limited playing time. 

He provides some pop as well. Though he isn’t a regular home run hitter or necessarily a threatening one, Jaso could provide an occasional lift to a Pirates offense that will surely miss the left-handed Alvarez’s 20-plus home run power.    

Platooning Jaso with Morse still doesn’t make up for the power lost. Morse struggles to put the ball in play, batting .231 last season with 76 strikeouts in 229 at-bats, while Jaso struck out just 39 times in 216 at-bats.

If Morse goes cold, Jaso will probably receive more playing time if his glove is up to snuff. It’s not the perfect way to replace first base, but at least the Pirates have options.        

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Ryan Vogelsong is returning to Bucco Nation.

On Friday, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced they reached a one-year agreement with the veteran right-handed pitcher, who played for the Bucs from 2001 to 2006:

Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported it’s a one-year deal worth $2 million and $3 million more in incentives.

Vogelsong spent the last five years with the San Francisco Giants, where he compiled a 48-46 record with a 3.89 ERA. He pitched an average of 158-plus innings per year with seven strikeouts per nine innings and 3.1 walks per nine innings during that span, which included two World Series titles.

In Pittsburgh, Vogelsong was plagued by injuries—including a Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss all of the 2002 season and most of the 2003 season—and when healthy, he struggled mightily, going 6-13 with a 6.50 ERA in 2005, his only full season starting in Pittsburgh.

After a three-year stint in Japan, Vogelsong was on the brink of being out of the game, but he resurrected his career with the Giants and was a key cog in their 2012 World Series run.

He’ll join a Pirates rotation that is loaded but limited. Pittsburgh carries just four starters on its roster.

The Pirates’ pitching was the catalyst to their 98 wins last year, the second most in the majors, and the team’s starters accumulated 67 wins with a 3.53 ERA, which ranked third and fifth, respectively.

The Bucs also have a remarkable offense to lean on, which should keep them in contention for their fourth straight postseason appearance, but they no longer can feel satisfied with just reaching the playoffs.

After hosting the National League Wild Card Game in each of the last three years, losing two, their chief focus is on winning the competitive NL Central, which houses the St. Louis Cardinals and World Series favorite Chicago Cubs, per Odds Shark.

While Vogelsong is long in the tooth, he’s a worthy add for the back of the rotation and boasts the veteran and championship pedigree the Pirates will need while prospects Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow continue to develop.

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Not content to stand pat with their current bullpen alignment, the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed free-agent right-hander Juan Nicasio. 

Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Pirates announced their deal with Nicasio on Thursday. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported Nicasio’s contract is for one year and worth $3 million. 

The back end of the Pirates’ bullpen looks to be set, barring a trade. Arquimedes Caminero and Tony Watson are the righty-lefty pitchers who will serve as the primary setup arms with Mark Melancon closing games out in the ninth inning.     

Nicasio is a depth move for the Pirates, who needed another right-handed arm with Joe Blanton being a free agent. The 29-year-old was serviceable for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015, his first full season as a reliever, posting a career-low 3.86 ERA with 65 strikeouts and one home run allowed in 58.1 innings. 

There are limitations to Nicasio’s game, which is why he’s best suited for a swing role rather than high-leverage situations. He had a career-worst 4.9 walks per nine innings last season and has averaged at least three walks per nine innings in each of the last four years. 

The Pirates are fortunate to have built up such a strong bullpen—Pittsburgh relievers led Major League Baseball with a 2.67 ERA in 2015—and Nicasio adds to the list of options manager Clint Hurdle has to play with next season.    

Stats per Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com.

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Despite posting baseball’s second-best regular-season record and hosting their third consecutive National League Wild Card Game, the Pittsburgh Pirates are heading home after a 4-0 loss at the hands of Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs.

It’s another disappointing end to a season for a team that, if it played in any other division, would have been able to avoid the one-game playoff altogether. Changes are certainly coming to PNC Park, but a massive overhaul probably isn’t in the cards.

What follows is an overview of some of the decisions the team is going to have to make—and some of the players they may look to in order to bolster the roster.

Begin Slideshow

The focus has all been on the other guy, all about what Jake Arrieta has done and how unfair it is that the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ 98-win season now hinges on finding a way around him in the National League Wild Card Game.

But what about Gerrit Cole?

Arrieta was historically great for the Chicago Cubs in the second half of the season, and he will finish no lower than third in one of the most interesting Cy Young races ever (he could win). Fine, but it won’t surprise anyone if Cole finishes fourth.

Arrieta can look unhittable at times, with his 94 mph fastball and hard slider. Fine, but Cole throws even harder—his average fastball velocity of 95.5 was a close third among major league starters, just behind the Angels‘ Garrett Richards and the Royals‘ Yordano Ventura, according to FanGraphs—and when he’s on his game, he can make major league hitters look like a bunch of kids in Double-A.

“This might be a 1-0 game with no balls hit hard,” said one rival scout who has watched both pitchers closely. “I really don’t think this is a foregone conclusion. There’s probably 25 batters between the two teams that aren’t feeling good.”

Arrieta has become exactly what the Baltimore Orioles hoped he would be (and what he never was for them). Cole is exactly what the Pirates expected when they made him the top overall draft pick out of UCLA in 2011.

Cole and Cleveland Indians starter Trevor Bauer pitched on the same staff at UCLA, and there were those that spring who thought Bauer would be the better choice—he went third overall to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pirates scouting director Greg Smith knew better.

Smith has a pretty nice history for drafting hard-throwing starters at the top of the first round, having chosen Justin Verlander for the Detroit Tigers in 2004. Like Verlander, Cole wasn’t close to a finished product in college, but he still moved fast after signing.

“There’s some roughness around the edges, and I like that,” Smith told me in a spring 2013 Cole story for CBSSports.com. “Because it means there’s more in there.”

Smith said that in February. Six months later, the then-23-year-old Cole was the Pirates’ choice to start the decisive Game 5 in their division series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He pitched well that night, allowing two runs on three hits in five innings, but Adam Wainwright was even better in a 6-1 Cardinals win.

Perhaps the same thing happens Wednesday against Arrieta. But maybe with two full seasons of major league experience behind him, Cole will be even better prepared for a winner-take-all game than he was then.

At a press conference Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Cole looked back on the game against the Cardinals and said the pressure doesn’t bother him.

“I mean, you get into a situation where your back’s up against the wall and you don’t have any option but to go out swinging,” he said. “So you might as well go for it. Treat it like any other game, and hopefully put yourself in a position to prepare for this opportunity. And I think I have.”

The numbers show he’s a better pitcher than he was two years ago, or even last year, when he watched from the dugout as San Francisco‘s Madison Bumgarner threw a shutout to beat Edinson Volquez in the Wild Card Game. Cole’s ERA is 2.60, the best of his career, and while his strikeout percentage basically stayed the same (8.7 per nine innings), his walk rate fell from 2.6 per nine innings a year ago to 1.9 this season.

“He’s more of a complete pitcher now,” said another rival scout who has followed Cole’s career. “He can still go get 99 [mph] when he wants it. But he’s a much smarter pitcher now.”

He was efficient enough to top the 200-inning mark for the first time, and he was consistent enough for the Pirates to go 23-9 in his 32 starts. He learned he didn’t need to throw his hardest pitches in the first inning, that he would be even better if he could go to another gear later on.

He grew as a pitcher, but he also grew mentally and emotionally. Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle spoke about how Cole has experienced on-field injuries as well as an off-field engagement.

“So many cool things going on in his life, and his ability to compartmentalize them personally and professionally,” Hurdle said. “He respects everything about the game, and he fears absolutely nothing about the game. That’s a wonderful place to be.”

The Wild Card Game is a wonderful place for the Pirates to be, although one of these years they’d love to avoid it and go straight to the NLDS. The danger is you can run into an unbeatable pitcher, the way they did last year with Bumgarner.

And maybe there will be an unbeatable pitcher on the mound Wednesday, too. Maybe it will be Gerrit Cole.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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