BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) – Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington on Sunday acknowledged the team erroneously computed Gerrit Cole’s salary offer for 2016, which led to a public spat with their ace pitcher.
The Pirates initially offered Cole a $538,000 contract, which was a $7,000 increase over his base salary last year. According to Huntington, that was a franchise-record pay hike for a player with only two-plus years of big league service time.
However, Cole’s total earnings last season were $541,000 because he got a $10,000 bonus for making the National League All-Star team.
“I understand the business of this game, but it is hard to accept that a year of performance success does not warrant an increase in pay,” Cole told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Cole went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA and finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting. He was the Pirates’ starting pitcher in the NL wild-card game.