Pirates avoid arbitration with Josh Bell; All-Star lands big raise

Josh Bell followed an All-Star season with a big bump in pay.

The Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman agreed to a $4.8-million contract Friday for the upcoming season. That represents an 817% increase over his $587,000 salary of last year.

Spurring Bell’s salary growth is the fact he had the necessary three years of major league service time that made him eligible for arbitration for the first time. Friday was the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to come to contract terms or possibly face hearings in February.

All eight Pirates eligible for arbitration agreed to one-year contracts, including right-handers Keone Kela ($3.725 million), Trevor Williams ($2.825 million), Joe Musgrove ($2.8 million), Jameson Taillon ($2.25 million), Michael Feliz ($1.1 million) and Chad Kuhl ($840,000) and second baseman Adam Frazier ($2.8 million).

Kela had a $3.175 million salary last season, and Feliz’s was $1.2 million. The other six players were paid between $578,000 to $587,500 during a season in which the major league minimum salary was $555,000.

The Pirates now have 13 players under contract for 2020 at a total of $47.34 million. That lists also includes center fielder Starling Marte ($11.5 million), right-hander Chris Archer ($9 million), right fielder Gregory Polanco ($8.6 million), outfielder Guillermo Heredia ($1 million) and catcher Luke Maile ($900,000).

Bell’s salary is surprisingly low considering he is coming off a season in which he had batted .277/.367/.569 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs in 143 games. He was also the starting DH for the National League in the first All-Star Game of his career.

The general expectation within baseball was Bell could have been awarded perhaps as much as $6 million if he had won at an arbitration hearing.

Taillon and Kuhl were somewhat unusual situations in the arbitration process. Taillon will miss the 2020 season while rehabbing from Tommy John reconstructive surgery, and Kuhl missed last season after undergoing the same procedure.

John Perrotto is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.