The Pittsburgh Pirates consistently maintain one of the smallest team payrolls in Major League Baseball, a reality that fans have had to accept under owner Bob Nutting.
However, attributing the Pirates’ subpar on-field performance solely to their low payroll is an excuse, a way to justify mediocrity. For instance, the Milwaukee Brewers rank among the bottom-10 in league payroll yet won the National League Central Division in 2024.
While managing team spending isn’t strictly under general manager Ben Cherington‘s control, he frequently finds himself defending Nutting’s reluctance to invest in building a competitive team.
“[Payroll] is not what’s going to drive winning here the most,” Cherington stated during his end-of-season press conference. “That’s mostly because of the structure of the game in a place like Pittsburgh to win. There are other places. There’s no place exactly like Pittsburgh, but there are other places that are similar, and you look at how those teams win and how we’re going to win here. It’s going to be through all those other things we were talking about.”
What other factors? Drafting and developing talent? International signings? The Pirates have not excelled in these areas either. Under Cherington’s leadership over five years, the team has yet to achieve a winning season, their farm system has deteriorated, and only one international signing, Luis Ortiz, has reached the majors.
If Cherington prefers not to blame payroll for the team’s shortcomings, that’s understandable since the funds aren’t his to spend. But all aspects he can control—drafting, developing, and international signings—have not improved and may have actually worsened.
Cherington indicated that payroll played a role in the decision to trade key players at the deadline.
When discussing the trade that sent left-handed pitcher Martín Pérez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for an 18-year-old DSL prospect, his comments appeared to contradict his earlier stance.
“At the time, we felt in order to execute the plan that we wanted to execute, that trade was an important component,” he explained. “We weren’t looking to get rid of Martín Pérez necessarily, but in the portfolio of what we were trying to do, it fit into that and allowed us to do what we wanted to do.”
Pérez was signed to a one-year deal and wasn’t meant to be a long-term player for the Pirates. However, with a salary of ** $ 8 million** in 2024, trading him allowed the Pirates to offset costs when acquiring Bryan De La Cruz and Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the deadline. This was part of the “portfolio” strategy—acquiring players without increasing payroll.
There is plenty of blame to share after the Pirates lagged through another disappointing season in 2024, but it often circles back to Nutting’s insufficient investment in the team, whether through unwillingness to spend on quality players or failure to hire the right personnel for baseball operations and front office roles.
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