Breaking Down the 2024 Opening Day Payroll

A look at the Pirates Opening Day payroll for the 2024 season.

First of all, I want to apologize.

I have been doing this article at any number of publications since 2018, so I certainly didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. However, if you’ve followed my work long enough, you know I’ve always wanted to try and track other teams in the league like I do the Pirates.

Well, I finally took that plunge this offseason, but the problem is I started way too late. I have been putting in crazy hours getting everything sorted out—honestly, for what reason I’ve yet to totally figure out—and just haven’t felt like I’ve had the time to do this.

While I’m really excited by this undertaking, the Pirates are still my main concern, so even though it’s a little later than I’d have liked, here is your opening day breakdown for 2024.

For a more in-depth, line-by-line breakdown, check out (and save) my payroll tracker that I’ll keep updated throughout the season. As a matter of practicality, my estimates assume that every transaction will be the last; however, we know that’s not the case. Moves will happen all season, and I’ll be tracking everyone and their effect on the final figure.

Guaranteed Salaries: $94,760,000

For the past two seasons, Ke’Bryan Hayes has been the team’s highest-paid player; however, a free agent has now usurped Hayes for that title.

Aroldis Chapman—the franchise’s second largest free agent signing ever (by average annual value)—and his $10.5 million salary top the team, with Bryan Reynolds ($10 million) the only other double-digit earner.

The Pirates surpassed their free agent “spending spree” from last offseason ($30.375 million), committing $33.2 million to six players. This marks the second straight year that they have at least moved out of the shallow end of the free-agent pool.

While you can see I’m not including him in top team earners, I’m technically counting trade acquisition Marco Gonzales at his entire $12 million salary here—I’ll include the offset below—which is inflating the above $90 plus million figure.

An arbitration class of six totals $17,302,500 and the difference is made up of pre-arbitration salaries.

As I always like to point out, Opening Day figures can be inflated due to players starting on the injured list. Eight players ended up there, and while an injured player’s salary still counts against the total, they also need to be replaced with another player making a major league salary.

While it wasn’t an injured list placement, Roansy Contreras starting on the Paternity List is a perfect example. While the full replacement salary of José Hernández was baked into the starting figure, the estimate went down $388,629 just three days into the season when Contreras was reinstated. The longer a player stays on the IL, the less volatile those swings will be.

Minor League Salary: $1,198,610

More often than not, when a player is in the minors they are paid at a different, lesser rate than their major league salary. The industry standard is actually 50% of a player’s total earnings from the prior season.

Bucs on Deck Top 25 Pirates Prospects

Joshua Palacios was the highest to start at $283,984; however, Hernández is at $360,000 due to his full year of service at the major league minimum in 2023.

Signing Bonuses: $661,500

For Labor Relations Department purposes—what’s being covered here—signing bonuses are prorated over the life of a contract. That means that Reynolds and Mitch Keller are accounted for here—and will be for the foreseeable future.

Cash Considerations: $(9,350,000)

As I reported at the time of the trade, the Braves are covering a large portion of Gonzales’ salary this year—$9.25 million, to be exact—which obviously lowers the Pirates’ commitment. You can read all the gory details there.

$100,000 from the Marlins for Roddery Muñoz makes up the difference.

Assignment Bonuses: $250,000

As part of his contract with the Mariners, Gonzales was to receive a $250,000 bonus every time he was traded, with the assignee responsible for the payment.

That means the Pirates were responsible for one of those payments, meaning they are responsible for $3 million to Gonzales this season.

2024 Payroll Projection: $87,520,110

While it’s not going to be enough for many, this is the club's highest opening-day figure since 2017 when it started at over $94.6 million.

In addition to the figure above, I calculated the Collective Balance Tax payroll—just as teams have both—which started at $121,476,005. This includes an estimated $17.5 million in player benefits, as well as the Pirates’ $1.67 million share of the pre-arbitration bonus pool. The large difference between Keller’s AAV and his 2024 is also a reason for the substantial difference between the two measures.

You can find these totals in the payroll spreadsheets as well, and I will be tracking both of these figures as the season goes on.