After his unanimous National League Cy Young win, Paul Skenes was awarded a record $3,436,343 from MLB’s pre-arbitration bonus pool. The number sounds nice if you don't mind reading the fine print. Looks like the Pittsburgh Pirates are “taking care of their ace,” right?
Wrong. Because the Pirates didn’t pay it. Major League Baseball did. And if you had any doubts about how badly this franchise is wasting the most electric pitcher it's had in decades, a record bonus –– funded by everyone except Pittsburgh –– should erase them.
The pre-arbitration bonus pool is designed to reward elite young stars who outplay their league-minimum salaries.