Pittsburgh Pirates' Avoid Arbitration with All Eight Eligible Players
Friday at 1 PM EST was the MLB deadline for teams to agree to terms or exchange salary figures with arbitration-eligible players. The Pittsburgh Pirates had eight players on the docket this year and they announced yesterday that they agreed to terms with all eight.
Here is the list of players along with the reported one-year deals they each received:
- Josh Bell - $4.8 million
- Keone Kela - $3.75 million
- Trevor Williams - $2.825 million
- Adam Frazier - $2.8 million
- Joe Musgrove - $2.8 million
- Jameson Taillon - $2.25 million
- Michael Feliz - $1.1 million
- Chad Kuhl - $840,000
It's always good news when the team can avoid arbitration hearings, especially when the list of eligible players is made up with some of the most valuable on the roster. Arbitration hearings can get tense and can lead to harsh feelings between the player and team. So, avoiding that in these eight instances is great.
The Pirates also made a couple of recent depth signings. The first of which was to add Guillermo Heredia, a 29-year old who most recently was with the Tampa Bay Rays. Heredia has a career .240 average with 17 home runs in 4 seasons. To make room for him on the roster, the Pirates DFA'd Pablo Reyes.
Yesterday, in addition to avoiding arbitration hearings, the Pirates also signed catcher, John Ryan Murphy to a minor league contract. Murphy has a career batting average of .219 with 18 home runs and 59 RBIs. This feels very similar to the Luke Maile signing, and further reveals the organizations shift towards a defensive focus at the catcher position. Murphy will add very little at the plate, but, if given the chance in Pittsburgh, will grade out as one of the league's best defensive backstops.
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