The Pittsburgh Pirates won their arbitration hearing with first baseman Ji-Man Choi, who will be paid $4.65 million this season instead of the $5.4 million he requested.
Acquired from Tampa Bay in a trade this past November, the 31-year-old has hit .239/.345/.429 with 61 home runs and 225 RBIs in seven major-league seasons. He played the past four-plus seasons with the Rays, batting .233/.341/.388 with 22 doubles, 11 homers and 52 RBIs in 113 games last season.
The arbitration loss was the second blow Choi endured before joining his teammates for spring training at Pirate City. The Pirates also made a medical objection over his surgically repaired elbow to prevent him from playing for Korea in the World Baseball Classic next month. Choi had surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow.
Yonhap News reported that Choi said he was “devastated” by the Pirates’ decision.
“I was healthy enough to take live batting practice recently,” Choi said in a statement released by his Seoul-based agency, Sports Vibe. “I am extremely disappointed and deeply hurt, because I was building up nicely for the national team training camp in the middle of this month and the first round of the WBC.”
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Thursday it wasn’t clear whether Choi would be “fully ready to participate in a way that you’d want a player to be” when that decision was made but expects Choi to recover in time to be ready for the regular season.
Manager Derek Shelton said the Pirates will discuss the decision with Choi, who reported to Pirate City on Friday.
“In our mind, we thought it was best for the Pirates with where he was at health-wise,” Shelton said. “We have to make sure we get ready for the season. We’ll sit down and have a conversation. Don’t really feel that it’ll be an issue at all.”
