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Tuesday, March 05, 2002

Over the past decade, we've heard lots of talk from the Pirates about a commitment to winning, but what we usually get is another broken-down season. From Kevin McClatchy to Cam Bonifay to Gene Lamont to Lloyd McClendon -- who's fond of demanding accountability -- we've heard the talk. But we've never seen the walk.

Until now.

Without saying a word, General Manager Dave Littlefield, in his first spring training in charge of the Pirates, let it be known that the less-than-mediocre performances that have become the norm for this team no longer are acceptable and certainly will not be rewarded on the grand scale they were in the past.

Littlefield made a statement this week in the one area of payroll where he has the most control -- among players in their first three major-league seasons. He made it clear he intends to exercise that control.

Leverage swings to the player after the third season, first in arbitration and then, after six seasons, in free agency.

It's not like the Pirates are paying minimum wage to players in their first three seasons. All players must make at least $200,000.

But in the recent past, the Pirates had been too generous in building on that $200,000 base. Jimmy Anderson, for example, received a $70,000 pay raise after the 2000 season -- which was a 35 percent increase for a 5-11 record.

What the Pirates were attempting to do by overpaying players they didn't need to overpay and who they would soon be forced to overpay is not clear.

Some of the Pirates' younger players were expecting the same liberal salary scale under Littlefield that was in place with Bonifay in charge. It wasn't going to happen. Littlefield used a management tool known as "renewal" on five Pirates. When a player is renewed it means: "This is what you're being paid, whether you like or not."

The players who were renewed are Anderson, Bronson Arroyo, Joe Beimel, Warren Morris and Craig Wilson. All will be making less than what they expected this season.

What Littlefield did to Anderson is enough to make him a Western Pennsylvania folk hero.

Littlefield put a $315,000 offer -- a raise of $30,000 -- on the table for Anderson to sign. Anderson had to be surprised by the amount of the raise. After all, he had been given a $70,000 raise after the 2000 season and he won more games, pitched more innings and had a lower earned run average in 2001.

When Anderson delayed a day in signing the offer, it changed and became $305,000.

Not wishing to have another $10,000 knocked off the deal, Anderson signed.

Littlefield insisted that he was not trying to send a message to anyone with his tactics and that he was only restructuring how the Pirates pay players in the first three seasons.

"We've made changes in a lot of areas, front office, player development, and this is just another change. We had to re-evaluate the scale on how we pay younger players. We wanted to get things at a more appropriate level."

Arroyo, who was 5-7 last season with a 5.09 ERA and spent part of the year in the minors, was given a 2 percent raise of $5,000 to $230,000.

Second baseman Warren Morris is another recipient of overly generous pay raises. His salary leaped from $200,000 to $380,000 -- a 90 percent pay increase -- in two seasons under Bonifay. He received no raise this season. If he plays in the majors, he'll make the same $380,000. If he plays in the minors, he'll take the maximum 20 percent pay cut, lowering his salary to $304,000.

Since Morris likely will play in the minors -- if the Pirates don't release him -- the folly of the previous pay scale is obvious. Neither the Pirates nor any team should not be paying average prospects $304,000.

Joe Beimel, who surprised by making the Pirates last season, jumped from $200,000 to $227,500. Craig Wilson, who had a highly impressive first season, will be paid $228,500.

The Wilson contract makes Littlefield's message clear. Although Wilson set a club record for pinch-hit home runs, he received nothing approaching the kind of raises that Morris and Anderson did after their first season.

In 2003, players will be expecting more frugal raises and be more likely to accept them, which means there should be less need to exercise the right of renewal.

Most of the players, to their credit, accepted the pay raise. Some expressed annoyance but all understood that it was a business decision by the Pirates.

A very smart business decision, one of many by Littlefield in his nine months on the job.

Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.