Bob Nutting: Front-loading Ke'Bryan Hayes' contract 'intentional' to give Pirates future financial flexibility

Bob Nutting was talking about making a commitment to a player considered the cornerstone of the future to a club-record contract when Ke’Bryan Hayes politely interrupted and extended his right hand.

The Pittsburgh Pirates chairman shook hands with the 25-year-old third baseman at PNC Park on Tuesday morning after Hayes became the face of the franchise by signing an eight-year, $70 million extension that keeps him locked up through at least the 2029 season.

That the deal was agreed upon on Opening Day in St. Louis but finalized before Tuesday’s home opener against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park brought a palpable excitement throughout the organization. Pirates players, along with manager Derek Shelton and members of the front office, filled the news conference to celebrate the occasion.

The front-loaded contract pays Hayes $10 million this season and next, $7 million per season from 2024-27 and $8 million in the 2028-29 seasons, with a club option for $12 million or a $6 million buyout in 2030.

“I think the structure of the contract was intentional. It was not an accident,” Nutting told the Tribune-Review. “To be able to make a commitment to him now allows him to sign a long-term deal because we’re going to pay up front for it. If we have some flexibility in those middle years to be able to supplement around him, those are the kinds of decisions we need to make — good decisions for the Pittsburgh Pirates — to be able to put us in a position to build a truly championship-caliber team.”

Nutting called it the Pirates planting a stake in the ground, a symbolic gesture backed by a major investment. Not since catcher Jason Kendall signed a six-year, $60 million contract in November 2000 had the Pirates made such a significant investment in a player.

Hayes’ agent, Scott Lonergan of the Ballengee Group, called it the “perfect win-win” given Hayes will earn $20 million over the next two seasons instead of the projected $1.46 million as a pre-arbitration player. Hayes opted for the guaranteed money now and the promise that the Pirates will invest in building a contender around him in the future.

“This was an opportunity for him to remove the financial risk from his family’s table forever while still hoping to have another bite of the apple futuristically,” Lonergan said. “That’s something we discussed, how he’s able to realize this windfall of money now but futuristically for the Pirates if everything goes according to plan — and we have to trust that it will — three to five years from now they will have extra capital.

“That’s exactly what Ke’Bryan wants to do. He wants that capital to be used to keep the core players here and go into free agency so we can build a championship team here in Pittsburgh.”

Nutting has promised to deliver a World Series champion, but the Pirates haven’t been contenders since playing in three consecutive wild-card games from 2013-15. They have had only four winning seasons since 1993, including a 20-year playoff drought, and the past three brought last-place finishes in the NL Central. The Pirates lost 93 games in 2019, finished with baseball’s worst record in the 60-game 2020 season and lost 101 games last year.

Under general manager Ben Cherington, the Pirates have traded All-Stars Starling Marte, Josh Bell and Adam Frazier and Gold Glove catcher Jacob Stallings, starting pitchers Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon and closer Richard Rodriguez for prospects to restock a farm system now ranked among baseball’s best.

“The organization has been through a lot over the last decade or so,” Nutting said. “We’ve certainly seen some successes, and we’ve seen some challenges. During that time, we have realized that our greatest success when we’ve had a core of young players that we believed in and we were really committed to, core players that were winners in the field, winners in the clubhouse and strong representatives in our community, players that make a real difference to the Pittsburgh Pirates. And Ke’Bryan Hayes is one of those players, and today is one of those moments.”

A first-round draft pick by the Pirates in 2015, Hayes made his major-league debut in September 2020 with a splash by slashing .376/.442/.682 with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 11 RBIs in 24 games to earn NL rookie of the month honors and finish sixth in rookie of the year voting. He missed two months last season with a lingering left hand/wrist injury but batted .257 with 20 doubles, two triples, six homers and 38 RBIs in 96 games.

Already is regarded as one of the game’s elite defenders at third base after winning three Gold Gloves in the minors, Hayes recorded 16 defensive runs saved and committed only three errors in 249 chances last season to win the Fielding Bible award as MLB’s best player at his position. He didn’t play enough innings under Rawlings regulations to qualify for a Gold Glove, though Hayes did turn two inning-ending double plays in the first three innings against the Cubs.

Shelton called it a “big day” for both Hayes and the Pirates, calling the standing ovation he received from his teammates in the clubhouse when news broke that the contract was agreed upon last Thursday a testament to what he means to the club.

“I appreciate what we’re doing and how we’re doing it on both sides,” Shelton said. “I appreciate it organizationally that we’re making a commitment and that Ke’s making a commitment. … It’s an important day for the Pirates.”

Ke is locked. pic.twitter.com/JwgoChVYt1

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 12, 2022

Hayes dismissed talk of a rebuild, instead expressing excitement over the drafting and development of the young talent that represents the future of the franchise. The son of Charlie Hayes, who played for seven teams over a 14-year major league career, Ke’Bryan has stressed the importance of playing for the team that drafted and developed him.

“It just felt right for me, where I was at, with what we have going on, I feel like what we are building it’s going to be very special,” Hayes said. “I love this city. I love the fans. They have always good to me. The media has always been good to me here. All my teammates have been good to me, the staff. It just felt right. So that was pretty much how I added it up.”

Hayes’ contract gives the Pirates the financial flexibility to sign more core players in the future. Whether that results in an extension with All-Star center fielder Bryan Reynolds, who is headed to arbitration over a difference of $650,000, remains to be seen.

“We always have to look ahead and try to estimate who’s on the team and has a chance to be on the team and how do we start to build a team that has a chance to win,” Cherington said. “Knowing what Ke’s salary will be in those years is one less thing that’s an unknown and we can start planning around that.

“Anything we’ve done — trades, today’s contracts — is because we really do believe it gives us the best chance to win. But it would be foolish to say that a day like today doesn’t mean something different, for the Pirates, for our players, for our fans. We know that we’ve got a really good player here for a long time. It’s one more step towards building that team that we strive to build.”