Pittsburgh Pirates win arbitration hearing against Ji-Man Choi

The Pirates won their arbitration hearing against first baseman Ji-Man Choi, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). He’ll earn the $4.65M salary submitted by the team, as opposed to the $5.4M salary his camp submitted on exchange day last month.

Acquired in a November trade that sent minor league pitcher Jack Hartman back to the Rays, Choi is heading into his final season of control before he’ll reach the free-agent market. The 31-year-old turned in a .233/.341/.488 batting line with Tampa Bay in 2022, swatting 11 home runs and 22 doubles while operating primarily as a platoon bat at first base and designated hitter. That’s a role with which Choi is familiar; just 16% of his career plate appearances have come against lefties (278 of 1724), and he’s a lifetime .203/.288/.301 hitter against them. Conversely, he’s hit righties at a .247/.356/.454 pace in 1446 plate appearances.

With the Pirates, Choi will pair with fellow offseason acquisition Carlos Santana to split time between first base and designated hitter. He’ll add some thump to a Pirates lineup that mustered only a .224/.296/.362 batting line against righties in 2022 — resulting in an ugly 86 wRC+ that ranked 26th among all MLB clubs.

Choi underwent elbow surgery shortly after the trade, but the Pirates were aware of the injury and confident that he’d be ready to go for spring training. By all accounts, that’s still the expectation. Mackey notes that Choi arrived at Pirates camp this morning but has yet to speak with the media.

With Choi’s salary now set, the Pirates’ payroll is finalized, barring any late additions via the free-agent or trade markets (or any possible extensions this spring). As it stands, they’ll head into the year with just north of $75M committed to their roster. Small as that number may be, it represents a leap of nearly $20M over last year’s Opening Day mark of $55.7M, which ranked 28th among baseball’s 30 teams.