Absurd arbitration projection for Pirates' biggest disappointment should seal his exit

Given how bad the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates were, there's a few players who are up for the "worst player on the team" award.

Going purely based on WAR, Endy Rodriguez (-0.6 fWAR) and his 38 wRC+ ranked last on the Pirates this year. However, Alexander Canario and Jack Suwinski (-0.5 fWAR each) were also decidedly negative contributors to the team's cause.

The difference between them? Both Canario and Rodriguez remain on pre-arbitration contracts heading into 2026, meaning that while they may not be very productive, they are cheap. And we all know how much that matters to ownership.

However, Suwinski is entering his first year of arbitration, which could more than double his 2025 salary of $785,000. In fact, according to MLB Trade Rumors' latest projections, Suwinski could be pushing an unreasonable figure that may put his roster spot in jeopardy.

Jack Suwinski's arbitration projections render him clear offseason non-tender candidate for Pirates

Based on his play alone, Suwinski was going to be on the non-tender radar this winter. After two strong campaigns to begin his career, the outfielder has been worth -1.6 fWAR since the start of the 2024 season.

In that time, he's played in 147 games and drawn nearly 400 at-bats. He's hit just .169/.271/.297 in those opportunities, good for a 59 wRC+. He's also severely regressed in the field, recording -9 Outs Above Average and -16 Defensive Runs Saved in that span.

That is not the profile of a player worth keeping around, and for the notoriously frugal Pirates, a contract projection of $1.7 million is far too steep for that kind of production.

It's worth keeping in mind that Suwinski -- who did have a very impressive 2023 campaign in which he hit 26 home runs and post a 112 wRC+ -- is only going to get more expensive as he gets further into arbitration. Even if $1.7 million doesn't sound outrageous right now, that only pushes the baseline up further for future years.

If there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that the Pirates won't want to spend money they can otherwise save.

Now, there could be a possibility for a trade here, especially since Suwinski generally remains capable of hitting right-handed pitching. However, other teams will know that the Pirates will likely non-tender Suwinski if he isn't dealt, meaning his market will only be further suppressed beyond his lack of production.

If this is the end of the road for Suwinski in Pittsburgh, it's an unceremonious end to the tenure of a player who looked so promising just a few years ago. For a team so desperately in need of power, it's hard to watch how this has all played out.