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The Pirates have completed a nine-year, $140 million contract with rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin, and as the club is leaning into its first-year phenom, there are plenty of long-term implications in the historic pact.
The deal is the largest in Pirates history, eclipsing a $106 million deal with outfielder Bryan Reynolds signed in 2023, and is also the most lucrative pact for any MLB rookie. Pittsburgh announced its deal with Griffin, the league’s top-rated prospect entering the 2026 season and a key part of their rebuilding efforts, less than a week after promoting the shortstop from the minors.
“Signing Konnor is a meaningful commitment to this team, this city, and our fans,” Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in a statement. “It reflects our belief in Konnor, in this season’s club, and in the future of our organization.”
The Pirates have long been known as an excessively frugal team, often drawing ire from the MLB Players Association. Nutting, however, has already pointed to how this year’s Pirates team “feels different” with Griffin involved as he’s been a leading part of a robust rookie class across the sport. With Griffin, the Pirates have started strong and are in third place in the NL Central division, one game behind the co-leading Brewers and Reds, after posting five last-place finishes since 2019.
“Konnor represents everything we value in a player: exceptional talent, strong character, a team-first mentality, and a maturity that stood out to all of us from the beginning,” Nutting said. “He is the right person, from the right family, and this is another important step in the work we have been doing to build something lasting.”
CBA Considerations
On a surface level, the Pirates’ approach to Griffin resembles one Atlanta has used to lock up many of its stars, including Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Spencer Strider, and Michael Harris II to long-term deals. With the Griffin deal, the Pirates bought out all of the player’s forthcoming salary arbitration eligibility, and an average annual value of $15.6 million could look like a significant bargain compared to free-agent costs for a top-tier shortstop.
MLB owners and players, meanwhile, are about to start negotiations toward a new labor deal, and those talks are likely to be fractious as management is expected to pursue a salary cap.
Pittsburgh’s deal with Griffin, as a result, also represents something of a hedge against any changes possibly coming to the sport’s economic framework. In any new labor deal, it’s expected that existing player contracts will be grandfathered into a new system, giving the Pirates additional cost certainty regarding a cornerstone player.
The Griffin pact runs through the 2034 season. In the current labor pact and its Prospect Promotion Incentive program, the Pirates are eligible to receive an additional draft pick if Griffin wins the NL Rookie of the Year award this year or finishes in the top three in Most Valuable Player voting over the next three seasons.
Griffin, meanwhile, gets a massive raise beyond the 2026 MLB minimum salary of $780,000, and he otherwise wouldn’t have approached the $15.6 million figure until he became eligible for arbitration. The Pirates selected Griffin, who will turn 20 later this month, with the No. 9 pick in the 2024 MLB draft. Escalators in the pact could add another $10 million to its total value.
“It feels great knowing I will be a Pittsburgh Pirate for a long time,” Griffin said. “The goal is to win every year. And I believe we can do that. It will be nice to have everything behind me, and now I can just go play baseball.”
With the Griffin deal done, the spotlight will also grow on the Pirates regarding star pitcher Paul Skenes. The third-year player already has won an NL Rookie of the Year award and an NL Cy Young Award, and he also played a starring role on the U.S. team in the recent World Baseball Classic. Skenes has boosted his income in part through those awards, reaching a total payout of $4.3 million last year, but his base 2026 salary of $1.085 million is still well below what his talent would command on the open market.
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