The Pittsburgh Pirates finished the 2011 season with an estimated 40-man payroll of $53,441,206, according to Pirates Prospects calculations. The estimate is based on all announced salaries, estimated salaries, pro-rated salaries based on how much time players spent in the majors and minors, performance bonuses, signing bonuses, and any other contract details that have been made available.
In 2010 the Pirates Prospects estimate was $1.36 M short of the actual results. The reason for the difference is mostly due to a lack of information on performance bonuses and actual salaries for most of the league minimum players. The 2011 estimate is about $9 M more than what the Pirates officially spent in 2010. Below are the details.
The payroll projection on Opening Day was $42,583,500, which means the Pirates added over $10.8 M in payroll during the 2011 season. A few of the big expenses during the season:
- The Pirates added about $5.5 M to their payroll when they traded for Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick at the trade deadline.
- Another boost came when they signed Jose Tabata to an extension, awarding him a $1 M signing bonus in the process.
- The September call-ups added an additional $565 K.
- The in-season additions of Xavier Paul, Brandon Wood, Mike McKenry, Matt Pagnozzi, and Jason Grilli added about $1.2 M to the payroll.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
wow you don’t get much for 53 million these day’s, is it me but it seems like huntington waste a lot of money. I mean ludwick, diaz, overbay, biemel, could this money been better spent?
may I ask what the gray shaded rows for Maholm, Snyder, Correia, Pearce, and Hart signifies?
They ended the year on the 60-day disabled list.