Pirates Make Non-Tender Decisions

11-22-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

We’re well into the offseason and with it comes procedural moves. Today, the “Non-Tender Deadline” rears it’s usually interesting head.

Let’s just explain what happens here, just in case we have folks checking in who haven’t bothered to learn all of MLB’s silly rules, procedures or deadlines for performing the actions they outline.

Earlier in the year you probably saw a lot of chatter about players getting “Qualifying Offers” that’s a bit different. That’s for pending free agents, the team is essentially saying, “we want you, we’re willing to pay you this large amount based on MLB formulas for payment” They go from there and negotiate with everyone including the qualifying offer team and if they ultimately don’t sign with anyone, they can just take the QO deal for a year, or they can sign a long term and rip up the QO, of course they could sign elsewhere in which case the QO team gets a draft pick as compensation for being pillaged.

This is the Non-Tender deadline. In other words, teams have to decide today not what they’ll pay these arbitration eligible players, only that they are willing to pay whatever the arbitration process produces should they have to actually take it to arbitration. Many of these players will sign actual contracts for 1 season to “avoid arbitration”, but make no mistake, arbitration is still guiding what those offers are and both sides would prefer to avoid the process as it is quite literally just players being told how little they’re worth and leads to hard feelings.

If a player is actually Non-Tendered, they become a free agent.

Lastly, the reason you don’t see names like Nick Gonzales, or Bryan Reynolds, or Mitch Keller, well, they either haven’t reached arbitration yet, or they have a signed contract with no arbitration eligibility.

In many cases, you’ll see actual contracts announced on Non-Tender deadline day, sometimes the decision itself is very much so about the player agreeing to take this path. meaning, let’s say they don’t want to pay David Bednar $6.6 Million, a very valid thought right? Solid chance they announce they’ve signed him to like $5.8 Million for 2025 and they’ll avoid arbitration. Just an example, and it’s valid no matter what outcomes I write down there for explaining how these things come to be.

This deadline can also shake free some guys you didn’t have in the Free Agent pool. I’m not saying we should want him, but an example here is Austin Hays, an Outfielder from Philadelphia and formerly Baltimore. Again, not a suggestion, just an example. In that case, you’ll often see some of these decisions become about the 40-man spot, or a DFA of a player who isn’t even on this list to make room will happen.

Lastly, you’ll also see some guys non-tendered and then re-signed. Someone like Ben Heller fits this profile, it’s an effort to keep him but not lock in on having him on the 40-man. In this case it has more to do with being unsure of the player than the price tag.

Sorry if that’s repetitive for some of you, but I often get told by readers that some people need a bit more of the procedural explanation stuff I’ve come to take for granted.

Lets move on.

Non-Tendered Pirates

Hunter Stratton:
Hunter won’t be healthy to start the season, but according to Noah Hiles of the Post Gazette, the team is interested in signing him to a minor league deal.

Connor Joe (3.136): Estimated Arbitration Award $3.2MM
Connor played 2 full seasons for the Pirates after being acquired from the Colorado Rockies. A versatile player, Joe showed the ability to carry the team during spells in each of those seasons, only to fall on tough times in the second half. When he was hot, he was hard to sit down, by the time you noticed he wasn’t hitting anymore, you’ve already burnt a month waiting for it to come back. This is a good sign the Pirates plan to upgrade as cutting ties with Joe weakens the depth at both 1B and the OF.

Bryan De La Cruz (3.056): Estimated Arbitration Award $4MM
This one comes as a bit of a surprise to most fans. Not because he deserved to be tendered, but we just watched Ben Cherington send out two prospects for his services with the main selling point being that he came with years of control. The power he showed in Miami simply didn’t follow him to Pittsburgh and if Bryan De La Cruz isn’t hitting homeruns, he really offers precious little else. Again, no matter what you think of him, he’ll sign and play Major League Baseball somewhere next year, the Pirates are parting with depth here too. Signing an Outfielder or two is all but assured as Jack Suwinski until they add to their roster becomes the opening day starting right fielder as we sit here.

Here’s The List of Players Offered Arbitration

Dennis Santana (4.126): Estimated Arbitration Award $1.8MM

David Bednar (4.076): Estimated Arbitration Award $6.6MM

Johan Oviedo (3.079): Estimated Arbitration Award $1.5MM

Joey Bart (3.020): Estimated Arbitration Award $1.8MM

Colin Holderman (2.144): Estimated Arbitration Award $1.4MM

Bailey Falter (2.138): Estimated Arbitration Award $2.8MM