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BRADENTON, Fla. -- Jack Wilson remembers the uneasy feeling of having Pirates management denigrate his skills during his salary arbitration hearing last winter.

More than anyone else in the Pirates clubhouse, he can relate to what Oliver Perez and Jason Bay are thinking after having their contracts unilaterally renewed.

"Obviously, I wasn't very happy with the way (the team) dealt with me," Wilson said Thursday morning. "At the time, I was really upset, and it still lingers with me today. That's why I'm hoping it doesn't affect these guys."

Perez and Bay were unhappy with the contract offers they received, and they elected not to sign their one-year deals and take the team's renewal.

"It's unfortunate that two of our best players have to find out the harsh business of baseball so early in their career," Wilson said. "You don't want your No.1 pitcher and No. 3-hole hitter going through the renewal process. That weighs on a player's mind later in his career. When deciding whether he wants to stay here, he wonders if he's going to be treated like he did early on in his career."

Perez, who transformed into one of the game's top left-handed pitchers last season, had his contract renewed at $381,000. Bay was renewed at $355,000.

For going 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA, ranking first among major-league starters in strikeouts per nine innings, Perez received a $60,000 raise above his 2004 salary. For being named the National League Rookie of the Year after batting .282 with 26 homers and 82 RBI, Bay got a $50,000 pay hike.

"With the years they had, they should have gotten bigger raises," Wilson said. "Even if they aren't arbitration eligible, they should have gotten them because of what they did for the team."

Wilson's advice for both players is to get over it and focus on the upcoming season. Last year, he didn't let the acrimonious arbitration process hurt his play on the field. To the contrary, it served as an inspiration for the 27-year-old shortstop, who made his first All-Star team, surpassed 200 hits and was rewarded with a two-year, $8 million contract in January.

"You hope they don't take it personally when it comes down to signing with the team again in free agency," he said. "That's a long, long ways off for these guys, but those things tend to stay in your mind."

General manager Dave Littlefield defended the salaries, saying the organization stuck with the pay scale it created for players with less than three years of service time -- known as 0-to-3 players. Among players in that group, Perez got the highest one-year deal in franchise history. Bay received $5,000 more than the Oakland Athletics gave shortstop Bobby Crosby, the American League Rookie of the Year.

That management didn't deviate from its scale and make exceptions for Perez and Bay also didn't sit well with pitcher Josh Fogg, the team's union representative.

"It's kind of sad," Fogg said. "It makes you wonder what (the Pirates) are doing if this is how they treat their best pitcher and offensive player on the team last year."

Fogg particularly was taken aback by Bay's salary.

"It's a little low," he said. "Make that a lot low."

Fogg said he never argued the salaries the Pirates offered in his three seasons before qualifying for arbitration this winter. Fogg received a $20,000 raise to $342,000 in 2004, his final year as a 0-to-3 player.

"They took care of me well," Fogg said. "But I didn't have the numbers (Bay and Perez) did."

Rob Mackowiak, who also reached arbitration for the first time this winter, also had no problem in his dealings with management when he was a 0-to-3 player. In his year in that category, Mackowiak received a $13,000 raise to $335,000.

"They treated me fairly," he said. "If you sat down and looked at the guys that were above me on the scale, like Jack, they deserved to be paid more than me. I thought it was fair, but I never was the Rookie of the Year or struck out 250 guys or anything like that."

Fogg said the issue will be moot if Perez and Bay continue to put up impressive numbers.

"Those guys have no pull now," he said. "If they have good years and get multi-year contracts, they'll make up that money and everyone will forget about this."

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