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The Pittsburgh Pirates have an in-house system for computing potential salary increases from year to year and unfortunately for the team’s ace, it’s a little flawed.
Gerrit Cole made a base salary of $531,000 last season and recently, the organization offered the lefty a $7,000 pay bump, which is the highest in franchise history for a player with less than three years of experience. It seems generous, though what the Pirates forgot to take into consideration was the $10,000 bonus that Cole earned for making the National League All-Star team. So in reality, he was offered $3,000 less than his total earnings in 2015.
According to Pirates GM Neal Huntington, the team’s algorithm for determining salary increases takes into consideration service time, playing time and performance. It doesn’t consider mid-season bonuses.
Huntington admitted the mistake, saying they will be changing a few things when considering year-to-year salaries in the future.
“Gerrit strikes a note that most people can empathize with,” Huntington told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “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.”
Cole was Pittsburgh’s starter for its National League Wild Card matchup with the Chicago Cubs last September. The Cubs won the game and advanced as far as the NLCS. Cole will be the Pirates’ unquestioned No. 1 pitcher moving forward and you can certainly understand his frustration with the club’s initial offer.
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