Felipe Rivero, now one of the foundational pieces of the franchise, reached agreement with the Pirates on a four-year, $22 million extension.
The deal — which runs from 2018-21 — also includes club options for 2022 and 2023. Rivero, 26, was beginning his first of four arbitration-eligible seasons and was unable to come to an agreement on a contract with the Pirates prior to last Friday’s arbitration filing deadline.
However, talks began to intensify between the two sides before an agreement was finalized three days after the club traded Andrew McCutchen.
“This gives us an opportunity to build a bullpen around him, build a club around him,” Neal Huntington said in a conference call with reporters. “Put our best foot forward to compete and do everything we can to win ballgames in ’18, ’19 and beyond. It’s nice for a manager to know he has the abilities of a guy like Felipe Rivero out there to close out wins.”
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Rivero will receive $2.5 million in 2018, $4 million in 2019, $5.25 million in 2020, $7.25 million in 2021 and a $2 million signing bonus. He made $564,500 the past season.
His two club-option years are each worth $10 million, and although the deal could be worth $41 million, it represents a significant bargain for the Pirates. If Rivero maintained, or increased, his level of production, he would have received significant raises in each of his arbitration-eligible seasons.
However, he chose to take the guaranteed money, preventing him from possibly maximizing his value. Contracts for free-agent relievers were significantly high this offseason, with Juan Nicasio receiving $8 million per year from the Mariners.
“It’s not about the money,” Rivero said. “It’s not about getting more. I want to be in Pittsburgh a few years. It’s not about more. I’ve been doing this a few years. It’s a way to feel comfortable with the team. That’s what made me accept this deal.”
Rivero told reporters at PiratesFest last month that he wanted to pursue a long-term extension with the club, and negotiations began days later at the Winter Meetings. He wasn’t involved much, though. Rivero’s sister, Priscilla, and his new agent, Francis Marquez, handled the negotiations. Once Rivero received the offer, he talked it over with his family before making a final decision, saying he wanted to stay in Pittsburgh for “a few more years” because of his comfort with the clubhouse and the presence of Ray Searage.
“Four times through the arbitration process absolutely affords the player the opportunity to earn more and we believe Felipe is going to be a good major league reliever, good closer, going forward,” Huntington said. “We guarantee money that we don’t have to guarantee. We could have continued to go year-to-year, but we felt that the club options and we felt the value over the arbitration years made sense for us and gave us the opportunity to get some cost certainty. … It’s a shared risk.”
Shortly after reports surfaced of McCutchen being traded to the Giants Monday night, Rivero expressed his thoughts about the trade on Twitter:
🤦🏾♂️
— Felipe Rivero (@Rivero43) January 15, 2018
— Felipe Rivero (@Rivero43) January 15, 2018
Hours later, news also leaked that the Pirates and Rivero were in agreement on a four-year extension, but Huntington told reporters during his news conference that night that the deal had not yet been completed. The delay was not the result of any second thoughts stemming from the trades of McCutchen and Gerrit Cole, Huntington and Rivero told reporters Thursday. But Rivero said he was surprised and disappointed both players were dealt.
“I was a little surprised because they were saying they were going to keep them and then that came out,” Rivero said. “It’s kind of tough to see the guys leave, when it’s the two best guys that we have leave. But we have more guys in the clubhouse that can help the team. We’re just trying to move forward right now.”
Now, he’s a building block in the Pirates’ stated quest to return to playoff contention.
Rivero emerged as one of the top ninth-inning relievers in Major League Baseball after being named to that role by Clint Hurdle in June. When Daniel Hudson and Tony Watson faltered, Hurdle moved Rivero to the closer role and Nicasio to the eighth inning. It worked wonderfully. Overall, Rivero had 21 saves with a 1.67 ERA and 88 strikeouts to only 20 walks in 2017.
Since being acquired by the Pirates for Mark Melancon in July 2016, Rivero has gone 6-6 with 21 saves, a 2.10 ERA, 127 strikeouts and .185 batting average against in 101 games.
Huntington said he had conversations with Rivero about the players acquired for Cole and McCutchen, as well as Rivero’s role moving forward. One point he emphasized, though, was that the Pirates do intend to compete in 2018, even if trading their best pitcher and best player indicate otherwise.
“Again, there’s a lot of misinformation and a lot of false narrative out there about when we are looking to compete again,” Huntington said. “We’re looking to compete again this year. We believe this club is a lot closer to the ’11 and ’12 Pirates and ’13 Pirates than we were the ’07, 08, ’09 Pirates. There was enough talent at the major league level, on the verge of the major league level. We’ve added to that group and Felipe, as one of the best young closers in the game, gives us some certainty in the back end of the bullpen, as certain as you can be in the back end of the bullpen.”
