Breaking Down the Pirates’ 2023 Year-End Payroll

Final payroll numbers for the Pirates in 2023.

With another year behind us, it’s another year of payroll in the books.

As always, I don’t care what the final number actually is. My goal is to be the most accurate, in-depth, and understandable source available for payroll tracking. It doesn’t matter to me how low or how high the number is, only that it’s right.

For anyone who doesn’t remember or may have missed it, I covered the Opening Day payroll using the same ideology when the season started. This will be the starting point for all the following comparisons—I will show where it started, where it ended, and make note of any relevant information regarding in season changes.

Major League Salary: The drop here is all about trades. The Pirates started the year with the highest payroll they’ve had since 2019, but it fell considerably, mostly due to trading the following players:

Rich Hill ($2,623,656)

Carlos Santana ($2,386,290)

Austin Hedges ($1,639,785)

Ji Man Choi ($1,525,000)

Robert Stephenson ($1,138,441)

That’s over $9.3 million in decreases from where payroll started, and even though players always come up to replace ones who are traded or injured—with Tucupita Marcano ($662,634), Joshua Palacios ($526,210), Ryan Borucki ($512,903), and Ángel Perdomo ($504,167) accounting for the largest increases—those offsets just couldn’t keep pace with the amount of salary that was traded.

Major League Salary Starting Total: $81,752,500

Major League Salary Final Total: $77,358,296

Minor League Salary: There was really no appreciable change here, as recalls and waiver claims lowered the starting total (Marcano/$179,742, Mark Mathias/$172,900, Yohan Ramirez/$141,440); however, players usually are going the other way, increasing the total in turn (Canaan Smith-Njigba/$191,824 and Roansy Contreras/$108,404).

Between players with smaller minor league splits spending more time in the minors than those with higher ones, plus a few players that were outrighted (Cal Mitchell/$34,923) or released (Travis Swaggerty/$47,970), it’s not a surprise the final total ended up going down.

Minor League Salary Starting Total: $1,688,395

Minor League Salary Final Total: $1,585,940

Outright Assignments: Before the season started, the Pirates outrighted Miguel Andújar and Ryan Vilade after tendering them contracts, tying them to $1,642,400 in salary.

While this starting figure technically went down $450,941 due to time spent in the majors by Andújar, the team outrighted some higher salaries to the minors, with Duane Underwood Jr. ($666,801) and Chris Owings ($623,656) inflating this total. Underwood Jr.’s was of course already accounted for, as his salary was guaranteed via avoiding arbitration; however, Owings and his $1 million prorated salary propped up the payroll when he was selected to the roster.

Outright Assignments Starting Total: $1,642,400

Outright Assignments Final Total: $3,023,955

Signing Bonuses: The calculation reported to the Labor Relations Department—the payroll being calculated here—prorates signing bonuses over the guaranteed years of a long-term contract, so when Bryan Reynolds signed his extension towards the beginning of the season, even though he was paid a $2 million signing bonus, it will be prorated over the life of the deal, or $250,000 for the next eight years.

Signing Bonuses Starting Total: $0

Signing Bonuses Final Total: $250,000

Performance Bonuses: Midseason surprise Ryan Borucki ended up earning $100,000 in bonuses, as he made $50,000 for hitting both the 30 and 35 relief appearances mark. He had the same amount due for 40, but only ended up at 36, with two games started as an opener thrown in, meaning those two starts didn’t keep him from reaching the next incentive level.

There are still awards to be given, meaning this total could still increase, with $25,000 to Ke’Bryan Hayes for a gold glove being the most likely.

Performance Bonuses Starting Total: $0

Performance Bonuses Final Total: $100,000

Termination Pay: Only two players ended up here, as Drew Maggi ($43,552) and Travis Swaggerty ($46,708) were released during the season, meaning the team still was forced to pay them.

It’s likely the team would have liked the opportunity to keep Swaggerty around, but since he was injured at the time of his placement on waivers he had to be released, since injured players cannot be assigned outright to the minors.

Termination Pay Starting Total: $0

Termination Pay Final Total: $90,259

Cash Considerations: The Pirates paid the Los Angeles Dodgers $100,000 when they acquired Andre Jackson; however, this is technically zeroed out in the next section, as the Milwaukee Brewers paid the same $100,000 for Bryse Wilson’s services.

Cash Considerations Starting Total: $0

Cash Considerations Final Total: $100,000

Credits: While suspensions for Maggi ($1,894) and Perdomo ($12,500) show up here, the main driver is obviously revoking the salary of He Who Shall Not Be Named.

Unfortunately, the team was forced to pick up options in both 2022 and 2023, with the contract hitting the Restricted List instead of having to pay respective $1 million and $500,000 buyouts; however, they are finally rid of that contract, as 2023 was the final year they committed to in any way.

Credits Starting Total: $(10,100,000)

Credits Final Total: $(10,114,394)

2023 Opening Day Payroll: $74,983,295

Final 2023 Payroll: $72,394,056

As usual, for the record, I have the Collective Balance Tax figure at $96,437,494, which includes an estimated $17 plus million in benefits and $1,666,667 for the Pirates’ share in the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also includes a $13,238,770 figure for Reynolds’ contract extension, a calculation I had to do myself, as the rules specify different calculations for deals agreed to during the season. I’m not exactly sure how it’s applied, so I’m hoping I did so correctly, as a figure that high could skew the final numbers.

This is what I’ll use for comparison’s sake when the official figures are (hopefully) reported around December. If and when that happens, I’ll probably write something up comparing my total to the official calculation, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.