Pirates ridiculously lowballed starting pitcher in arbitration process

One of the major unheralded events of the MLB offseason is the negotiation period for teams and players to settle their contracts before needing to go to arbitration. The Pirates were successful in settling multiple contracts with players under team control, but two pitchers on the team did not come to agreements on what Pittsburgh offered (Dennis Santana and Johan Oviedo).

In Oviedo's case, it definitely felt like the Pirates haggled and stuck to their guns on a somewhat ridiculous lowball.

The right-hander, recovering from injury entering the 2025 season, believed that he should get paid $1.1 million for the forthcoming campaign, but the Pirates offered him just $800k. Although he has not pitched since 2023, Oviedo is worth that extra $300k that the Pirates did not offer him, a relative pittance. He was Pittsburgh's second best starter that season and is likely to make an impact in 2025, if managed correctly.

Pirates should have just paid what Johan Oviedo requested to avoid arbitration.

No matter which of the two dollar figures he ends up being paid, that represents a steal for a reliable starter at the back of the rotation. In fact, Bailey Falter is making just over $2 million to avoid arbitration, which adds a lot of value to his name. That cheapness and effectiveness to round out a rotation is very valuable to teams, especially to a penny-pinching Pirates club.

Back in 2023, Oviedo posted an earned run average of 4.31 with a FIP of 4.49 across 177.2 innings and struck out 158 batters. Opposing hitters batted just .235 against him, but he walked opponents at a 10.6% rate to generate a WHIP of 1.37. For a guy that wants just $1.1 million, he proved that he is worthy of that pay increase.

He got Tommy John surgery in December of 2023 and could be ready for the start of the 2025 season, but that remains unknown until he shows how he has recovered this spring. It is possible that their uncertainty for the season prevented the Pirates from acquiescing to the extra $300,000 but ... come on. It's such a marginal amount of cash.

The Pirates definitely lowballed Oviedo, and that is why they did not reach an agreement, though there is still time to resolve this before a frustrating and unnecessary arbitration hearing. Time will tell what he earns for the 2025 season, but it is very likely that the total will fall between the $1.1 million he requested and the $800k the Pirates are willing to give.