Last Updated on February 28, 2016 8:00 pm by admin
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington has acknowledged the team errantly 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. Huntington said on Sunday the team ”made a mistake.”
Cole reluctantly signed but told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ”it is hard to accept” not getting a pay raise after going 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA and finishing fourth in the National League Cy Young Award voting.