The Pirates drew plenty of scrutiny for designating first baseman Rowdy Tellez for assignment when he was four plate appearances shy of reaching a $200K bonus in his contract, though management has publicly disputed that the bonus had anything to do with the decision. Another Pittsburgh veteran ultimately landed in a similar spot, but infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa tells Alex Stumpf of MLB.com that he declined an opportunity to enter the lineup and collect a $250K bonus. The infielder finished the season at 496 plate appearances, when his contract would’ve afforded him a $250K bonus for reaching 500 trips to the plate. Manager Derek Shelton initially omitted Kiner-Falefa from the Pirates’ Sunday lineup but, upon learning of the looming bonus, attempted to plug the infielder back into the lineup.
“I didn’t think it was fair to take a spot from [Liover Peguero], or one of the young guys, an opportunity to play at Yankee Stadium away from them,” says Kiner-Falefa, whom the Pirates acquired from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline. “I got hurt this year. I missed a month. If that doesn’t happen, or if we’re actually in a real race, I crush those incentives by a long shot. So, at the end of the day, I feel like I didn’t deserve it from that aspect. It’s nothing the team did. They tried to make it right at the end. That meant a lot to me right there. I’m thankful to [Shelton] and the organization to give me that opportunity.”
A couple more interesting contract notes from the final weekend of the season…
- Rangers lefty Andrew Heaney began his final start of the season Sunday at 156 innings, just four frames away from unlocking a $1.5MM bonus in his two-year deal. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that although he was hit hard through the first three innings of the game (seven runs allowed), Heaney was allowed to complete the fourth inning as a reward for the selflessness he’s shown in his two seasons with the club and for the value he’s provided as a teammate in the clubhouse. “[General manager Chris Young] said we are going to do the right things by people, by players and by fans,” Heaney tells Grant. “Chris and [manager] Bruce Bochy are baseball lifers and they understand what it means. I believed everything Chris told me when I signed here. It has been everything he presented and more.” The 33-year-old Heaney finished out the 2024 season with a 4.28 ERA in his 160 frames and logged an overall 4.22 ERA in 307 1/3 innings over his two years in Texas. He’s a free agent this winter.
- Right-hander Chris Flexen has eaten innings at the back of the White Sox’ rotation amid the team’s historically feeble season, and the club made sure in his final start of the season that Flexen was able to reach the final incentive milestone in his one-year, $1.75MM contract, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale points out. Flexen’s deal called for $250K bonuses at each of 75, 100, 125 and 160 innings. The right-hander entered Sunday’s start with 153 2/3 innings under his belt. Flexen made the decision pretty easy for the Sox, as he tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Angels. Still, few would’ve questioned the decision to pull Flexen after six scoreless innings, 88 pitches and a 7-0 lead. But the Sox made sure to send Flexen back out for the seventh and only lifted him after he’d recorded that first out to get him to that 160-inning threshold. He finished out the season with a 4.95 ERA, leading the team in innings and ranking second to Garrett Crochet with 30 starts. Flexen will head back to free agency this winter.
i understand the contract the jays gave ikf two years ago a bit more now. never followed him too closely, but he has a capable mindset. if he were on a playoff team’s bench, i think that team would feel pretty comfortable with 2/10 although i dont think he will obtain any more than that this winter.
Not a free agent and 15m
thank you, hungover, forgive me. 2/10 does sound reasonable though, doesnt it?
Sure. Toronto usually has some contracts that are higher than I expect. Maybe higher taxes or don’t want to live in Canada or something. Maybe just bad management.
I have always enjoyed watching Isiah Kiner-Falefa play. I wouldn’t mind seeing him suit for my Giants in the future in a super utility role. He is a class act and a team player who did not deserve the criticism he received while playing for the Yankees.
Agreed. Unfortunately he was a victim of circumstance when he went to the Yankees. With all the great shortstops available at the time they went with him as a placeholder for Volpe.
he might be a class act but his offensive numbers playing in Pittsburgh weren’t anything to write home
41ks vs 3 walks
10 rbi
and this is in 50 games
his ope was lower in Pittsburgh than in Toronto and he batted 29 points less in Pittsburgh than Toronto, .293 to . 265
Hello TheMan 3 – As I said in my initial reply I’d like to have him as a super utility player. He is capable of playing multiple positions (including catcher if a team needs one in a unique situation). That is certainly valuable in today’s game. I understand your concerns with his offensive abilities but he has never really been a threat at the plate.
Cherington was adamant about trading for IKF for his offensive capabilities and the ability to play several infield positions as if the team didn’t already have several players who were already utility players
No offense to you at all but half the production of the Pirates’ lineup puts up “offensive utility player numbers”. I really hope to see them turn it around at some point but I know that owner runs the team strictly like a business. Seems like winning isn’t his priority, profit is.
winning has never been a priority under the ownership of Bob Nutting
the franchise was purchased in 2007 for $97 million, it’s valued at $1.3 billion now
You don’t increase your value by spending money
I don’t think he’s their starting shortstop next year but I appreciate his comments. Refreshingly positive. I’d hope that he rebounds from this season’s injuries and be a spark on this team. They sure need one
“weren’t anything to write home
41ks”
In fairness to IKF that’s under 20 percent and mlb average is 22 or 23. Maybe his only positive stat.
41ks vs 3 walks and in 50 games no less
and I don’t care what the average is, he provided zero for the Bucs to get into the playoffs which was why he was traded for
is his 10 rbi in 50 games also an average?
I know you don’t care. But for anyone else who reads this, doesn’t know, and wants to learn more about baseball well his k percentage for the entire season is top 83 percentile and his wiff percentage is top 94 percentile. Not striking out is something he does well. Really well. Not as well as he did in Toronto but well. Also high as a base runner and defender.
One thing of note is that the Blue Jays would be on the hook for most of the bonus. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jays had a say in him reaching his bonus or not.
How would they have a say?
I read that they didn’t have full responsibility over the decision.
So if Sunday was win and the Pirates are in the playoffs they could have been without their starting ss because Toronto said no?
Shelton offered to put IKF in the lineup. He didn’t ask Toronto if they wanted him to play they asked IKF. What if he said yes? Well don’t suit up yet we have to ask Toronto. Oh dear. I was hoping you would say no.
There’s an obvious and more direct way for the Pirates to make it right: pay him the bonus.
There’s an obvious and more direct way for the Pirates to make it right: change ownership.
Fixed it for you. 😉
Thank you. Nothing substantial changes until then.
But that won’t stop my fellow Pirate fans from the pointing the finger at Shelton and Cherington. At this point, I’m not even going to defend them keeping their jobs. But I don’t see how, given the resources Nutting is willing to spend, how the next two are going to move the needle from 76 to 90 wins, which is what you need to at least be in the conversation. Not to mention, if you’re not going to pay market rate for on-field talent, there’s no reason to believe he’s going to pay it for the FO.
And for whatever reason many seem allergic to pointing out the All Star closers who couldn’t close, the multiple guys not even sniffing .700 OPS, or the deadline pickups who somehow played worse than what they already had on the roster.
The thing is, I’ve seen little to no evidence since day 1 that Shelton deserves to be an MLB manager. He is about as consistently uninteresting and seemingly uninterested as any manager this side of John Russell.
As for Cherington, I actually was fully supportive of him until this season. Because even if I didn’t agree with certain moves, I could at least look at them and think, “OK, I can see what he’s trying to do, I can see a master plan.” And then this season, more specifically the latter half of this season, it seemed like they were trying to predict the weather blindfolded. There was no rhyme or reason to absolutely anything.
So yes, I do blame those two for this season not being more successful. And in the past, I’ve stayed away from completely throwing Nutting under the bus… but at this point, I’d back the bus back over him a couple of times.
NJ hit the nail on the head. While I’m in complete agreement about the GM, manager and his staff, it all starts with him. Nutting is not a baseball guy—it’s all about profit margins with him—and his people are adept at continually pushing the small market/limited funds mantra. But as we’ve seen in similar markets like Milwaukee, Baltimore and Cleveland, putting a competitive team that hustles on the field at the very least is doable. One just doesn’t get the feeling it’s a priority here
The trade deadline in particular was…something. They feel like the moves when a guy is desperate to save his job, so he reached for a move, any move. And people locally seemed to like it. Of course these are the same hotheads who claim prospects are worthless and undervalued, then call in to the FAN to whine about how X prospect is blowing up on his new team, all the while pretending he didn’t pound the table for trades.
I’m just curious who would be a good manager who is in their self imposed budget that’s not a retread or an unproven guy.
But without a significant increase in spending, I still don’t see where they’re getting another 15 wins.
It’s funny because I hear a lot of the people here locally saying why can’t they be like Baltimore.
I don’t know the behind the scenes, but when Elias was brought in, my guess is he set to work in beefing up all the departments that produces a strong farm system and not sparing any expense on people and development. This was a franchise that didn’t even have an international scouting pipeline at the time.
You can’t cheap out on anything with franchises now. Every efficiency is being exploited.
Part of me thinks it’s a miracle they do better than 90 losses. You don’t want to pay for major league talent, or front office, or development. I don’t what else you can expect.
And one last thing on Nutting is I’ve noticed a trend where local journalists seem to take pause before pointing the finger at him.
Maybe they think going after a newspaper magnate is bad for their careers.
Agreed. And your question extends to literally every management position from the front office on down to player development personnel who have been unable to get the ideas of fundamentals, batting approach and understanding and the twin attributes of focus and hustle into young players. Ownership is known as cheap, to say the least
It would take younger guys for those roles who want to make names for themselves
Can’t see established GMs or managers willing to work under an ultra frugal owner
That’s a good take on print journalists here but I got the feeling that it was more apathy and the idea that “it is what it is so why bother” from them
In the past two weeks, both the PG and Trib have run columns torpedoing Nutting, Cherington and Shelton. I’ve posted links to guys like Starkey, Mackey, Collier, Madden and Benz. Seems to me that the propaganda that comes from the Pirates marketing people has worn thin
We have seen things on the field in these past two seasons that you wouldn’t see at high school games, from lack of fundamentals to lack of knowledge of the game to incredible discipline-like issues that involve generally dogging it or playing prima Donna style. I’m guessing journalists have finally taken notice
and some of us would guide you as you’re backing up so you don’t miss
okay, we can all agree that the owner is stingy and unlikely to sell the team or at least allow BC to increase payroll to the $100 million dollar range
but changes could be made internally to improve this team and create a more positive atmosphere that would result in increased production
No one is expecting the Bucs to win a championship next year but putting a competitive team on the field shouldn’t be out of reach
Cherington could start by firing the manager and his coaching staff. This isn’t a guaranteed success story but this decision would show the fans that consistently losing is unacceptable and changes are necessary
I have even read articles in Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s website about the failures under Cherington’s regime so it’s not just local sports media
Only thing a owner change could possibly bring is a smarter owner. Payroll will still be low. But being able to hire the right people and market your product could allow ownership to spend 100 to 130 million vs 70 to 100 million.
I will not be blaming anyone other than Nutting moving forward. It’s crystal clear to me that Cherington needs to go. It should be to Nutting as well. Cherington pretty much said it himself in his actions and quotes. Can’t blame people for collecting a paycheck.
Mark Cuban said a few years ago that Nutting would be crazy to sell given the profits. That speaks volumes to me. Here’s a guy that invests relatively little in his product and reaps the dividends that come from everything else
Let’s say it again, and it’s commonly known fact—the Pirates are not cash strapped in a traditional sense. They simply have an owner whose focus is profits. Nothing more. How many reports does one need before it dawns on them that propaganda doesn’t equate to reality
But given all this, why sell? Why change practices when there is no real impetus to compete?
You made one salient point about Nutting a few articles ago when you said that it doesn’t matter if fans boycott the games. We’re still paying Nuttong by purchasing cable TV packages or really, by purchasing from his corporate sponsors. It’s a great gig that MLB has in place where revenue streams are concerned for owners
I get why he bought a team. I would have to during that time. But I would have sold end of last decade. He could have made so so not going to spam how many so’s but so much more $ elsewhere. Now if he loves baseball then ok it’s a profitable hobby. I never heard anyone who thought he loves baseball. Doesn’t even seem to like it. It is a safe investment. And looks to be growth. But I don’t think that growth will come close to the missed opportunities he passed on. Passed up billions and billions and billions etc of $ to make 50 million a year. But no idea why he still owns newspapers either. He has the reputation as a guy who loves $ but I couldn’t disagree more. If I hit the Powerball 2 of the last things I would buy is a baseball team and newspaper. 3 would be a ski resort in Pennsylvania but he was smart enough to sell that.
There are few corporate ownership gigs that are the cash cow professional sports are. And there are fewer with a financial structure that guarantees owners wealth while having no requirements that an owner makes an effort to compete.
Sell? Why? With the advent of super sports streaming packages that will start up in the next 5 years, the windfall will be incredible. And just what are sports books “contributing” in all of this? The worst thing that ever happened to pro sports.
Consider this: MLB will not reveal the amount of national TV money each franchise receives but it’s beyond substantial. Ask yourself why it’s such a tightly guarded secret. Then see beyond this facade of an MLB owner making little profit. It’s the la cosa nostra of sports
The Atlanta Braves are a publicly traded company. So you have a go at it. Just factor in things like the battery and more suites attendance ticket prices etc. Not my idea of a good time and don’t know what they can do to cook the books but it’s pretty much the best source for amateur accountants.
yeah like Nutting is going to give $250k if he doesn’t have to
perhaps, njbirdsfan, but regardless, this team lacks a good hitting coach, basic fundamentals, and discipline
Shelton and Haines fail at all three
The offense set the franchise record in strikeouts with 1506
They finished last in the league in doubles
3rd to last in runs scored
last in hits and
next to last in batting average
and don’t even get me started on the lack of discipline that Shelton should be giving out
I don’t think the CBA allows teams to just randomly give extra money to players. Too many ways to get around the spirit of rules if they allow that. I think the only way would be to sign him to an extension at a higher salary than they otherwise would have, or with a 250K incentive that was easy to meet, like 100 plate appearances.
Must be nice to be able to tell $250k to go pound sand.
Especially when he could’ve gifted part of the bonus to younger players and charity
He worked hard his whole life to get to the point that he’s earned nearly $21M, so giving another player the chance to start a game at Yankee Stadium was a nice gesture.
You have to give him credit for thinking of other things than the money. Few would do that in this day and age.
Much respect to IKF.
Come on IKF. I get that he didn’t want to take the start from the rookie, but it’s your money, you all but earned it. The rook will get plenty of other opportunities. Collect the money and give it to charity. It’s only collecting moss in Nutting’s pocket.
“You all but earned it”
Key word: but
Even IKF agreed with the result.
He didn’t earn it according to IKF’s own statement. His response was very honorable but you’ll probably call him foolish.
IKF is a stand up guy. A true Pro. Wish I could say the same for the Owner and GM.
Way it seems to me. He wasn’t in the lineup. Went to bed thinking cheap pieces of. Media reports bonus. Hour before game they are like we were trying to get our young players this critical important 1 game playing time but if you want your bonus we will find a spot for you.
I would have said find me a spot. He already checked out and turned it down.
Listen to his interview. He said all rhe right things. But it’s how he said them.
Good gestures all around. Worth noting that these were incentives though. I’m sure if vesting options were on the line the teams would have made the cold (and correct) decisions to make sure they didn’t hit.
Pirates need alot of help! I look for Keller and Peguero to be traded maybe blockbuster to shake things up.
if the trades Cherington made at the deadline are any indication, I would rather someone with real baseball knowledge make any trades
I’m at a loss as to who would be involved in a “blockbuster” deal here beyond Skenes. Just who would any team want that would constitute a big haul that translates into an immediate difference in fortunes?
Young pitching,several infield prospects, Hayes maybe or another MLB ready pitcher!Burrows maybe? My God do something, this isn’t working.
Yeah, agree. They could deal from depth but it wouldn’t have the impact of signing a big bat in free agency to anchor the lineup. It’s a nice pipe dream, as this owner refuses to spend
trading a player with chronic back problems won’t bring much back in value to the team
we’re stuck with Hayes unless Nutting agreed to taking on a large chunk of his contract and that is highly unlikely
On sad note OldDude I hear Pete Rose dead!? Not hearing much say it ain’t so!! Love the guy,don’t care what he did! HOF Tomorrow please!
Yeah. Just read it on ESPN. 83
I was a huge Pirates fan and somehow, Rose and Morgan from the hated Reds were my favorite players. Damn. Gone too soon
HoF? Agreed. Same for Bonds and Clemens
Hayes is just as likely to never play another 100 games due to his back as not. His career might be over.
They know what they have in Keller. He’s good. Very good until he wears down in late summer. Leader of mot just pitchers but a team leader. Signed an extension. Wants to be here. Doesn’t sound like someone who should be traded to me. They can trade prospects, average veterans, and failed prospects. Can get whoever they want as long as the other team doesn’t want power hitters. Padres are the blueprint for this. They make so many trades pretty much getting whoever they want. Quantity. They keep their blue chippers. Just hope they don’t want who you want though because AJ won’t be denied.
I had a good reply about our terminology for Keller back when I played in the horse and buggy days but MLBTR didn’t appreciate it
I think the “worn down” thinking is a bit misleading, Dream. He has spells like this a couple times each season, where he gets hit hard. Fastballs drift dead red. Spin pitches hover along Main Street
Maybe they know what they have, but they have to eliminate those stretches
I just looked not long ago. He had like don’t hold me to it 6 on quality starts this year and every single one or all but 1 was in August September. Not the 6 innings fewer than 3 runs you hear them say on tv. I use 5 innings 4 runs. You have to adjust with the times. And not so much quality as not awful. 5 innings 4 runs isn’t quality but your team has a chance to win.
Don’t misunderstand me, I like Mitch. And I get both the quality starts note and temper things with what TheMan3 reminds us of: that Shelton seems to enjoy keeping him in long after he’s been tagged for 5 or 7 runs
No pitcher is ever going to “have it” every time out. But it’s the 3-game stretch or so that is kind of disturbing
It was only 5 games. 1 he got pulled as precaution or something 1 hit 0 runs 4 innings? Other pulled early right before all star game. 0 in April May June. 1 in July. Never more than 2 in a row. Looks to me it’s a genetics or conditioning issue. I remember last year he was at his worse end of year.
Fans, Rockies, White sox will just look at his era. Dodgers Rays will look at what I did and get him on some strict diet or pilates or whatever and gain tremendous surplus value.
I think trading Keller is the way to go. He would bring a good hitter in return and the have enough good young pitching to replace him. Initially they will miss his ability to eat inngs with pretty good results but they desperately need offense. If it’s a young hitter they will also save money
Only the pirates would be cheap enough to cut rowdy loose
Actually most other teams would have done it a month sooner. Hoping he would get claimed to save even more $. Epic failure on Pirates for not doing this. Cherington should be fired for it. He obviously knows this because he did it with Taylor. You don’t think other teams enjoy receiving more $?
Kudos to IKF for having standards and holding himself accountable to them. Rare in today’s society.. Puzzled by the “participation trophy” attitude shown by many posters. It takes more than just showing up.
As a pirate I live by the code take what you can and give nothing back. IKF is no pirate.
That’s Pirates of the Caribbean, not Black Sails, but ok
My bad. Are we only allowed to use black sails references and no other pirates media? It’s the best but can find morsels of good in others.
I like Pirates of the Caribe, although Disney overdid the CGI a bit each time
Bob Nutting is the perfect Pirates owner. He really lives by the code.
I liked it as a kid. Now not so much. Great Depp performance, some cheesy action. Pretty mid though.
Tale of 2 ownerships: for all the deserved scorn that Jerry gets, he is known for being overly loyal to his employees. Good on them for letting Flexen collect his bonus, unlike the Pirates and Rowdy. Yes, he let his misplaced loyalty to Jerry Krause allow Krause’s ego to break up the Bulls, but he also took care of franchise icon Scottie Pippen by doing a sign and trade to make sure he got paid (also warned Scottie to not sign the long term below market deal). Has brought back almost all former players as team ambassadors, and if you’re not careful, makes them managers. And then in 2005, paid for hotel and airfare and World Series ticks for the entire organization, including numerous vendors and maintenance staff. Everything else though: meddling with decisions including keeping sleepy drunk Tony, not investing in team infrastructure, keeping the reins on budget during contention window: bleh!
I agree with everything you said!
Jerry Reinsdorf is most definitely one of the most mercurial owners we’ve had in Chicago.
Its the least they could do given the lack of support for the whole year in his starts.
I’m thinking that MGR Sizemore had a lot of input to keep Flexen in the game for his bonus to kick in. It’s true that Reinsdorf is usually good for former players. But remember what he did to Fisk. Still serviceable, but released him right after breaking the longevity catcher record. On the road yet an Fisk watched the next game in the stands. Probably the reason Fisk wears a Boston cap on his HOF plaque.
Another thing, his loyalty to former players probably at reduced cost.
That’s my take on Reinsdorf. I hope someone like MarkCuban would buy the team.
I don’t get people saying “much respect”. IKF is an idiot. “Oh no, if I wasn’t hurt I would have reached it, so let’s just let the billionaire owner keep it.” That money isn’t going anywhere but to the “cash on hand” pile for the team.
You’re essentially paying 250k of your money to let some journeyman experience playing in yankee stadium for like a couple grand? Just play and give the guy your game check and a sweetener.
What a dope.
I don’t know. I take his actions and words as noble. I have to think that turning down that amount of money likely means a lot more to us than to a guy who’s already made a great deal of money
And I bet his response will resonate around the league that he’s a high character, team-first productive player resulting in greater demand for him when he hits free agency again. IKF playing the long game.
Classy move by the White Sox by letting Flexen get the 160 innings. Reindorf might not want to spend money, but he does live up to his contracts and he helps out those who aren’t paid a lot.