Should the Pittsburgh Pirates entertain the idea of stashing Trevor Rosenthal?

The Pittsburgh Pirates should at least entertain the idea of stashing one of the better relievers in the NL Central while he rehabilitates from TJ surgery.

The Pittsburgh Pirates built a reputation during the Neal Huntington era for finding unconventional avenues to gain a competitive edge.

Whether that reputation is still deserved after two down years is up for debate. Even so, the Pirates might want to push themselves even further out of their comfort zone by entertaining the notion of signing former Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal to a deal while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. The injury, sustained in August of last season, directly led to his outright release from St. Louis.

Despite losing his grip on the closer position in 2016, Rosenthal remained a very effective reliever, albeit with one major problem. That was his walk rate, which ballooned to 6.47 BB/9. Rosenthal has flirted with the free pass before, with a 5.37 rate per nine in his 45-save 2014 campaign.

Rosenthal has always been able to rely on punchout ability — he struck out 14.35 hitters per nine last season and has lit up 12.05 per nine for his career — and has consistently kept the ball in the park with a 0.47 HR/9 career mark.

With a career FIP/xFIP of 2.60/3.08, a case can easily be made that Rosenthal is a perfect “stashaway” candidate; that being defined as a pitcher who is known to be missing a huge chunk of time — and oftentimes, a full season — yet is signed by a team anyway in the hopes that the pitcher can rehab with the team and serve as a cheaply acquired option once fully recovered.

Should the Pittsburgh Pirates consider taking such a route with Rosenthal?

Precedents

There are certainly precedents for this type of move. Before last season, the Tampa Bay Rays stashed starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi on a one-year MLB deal that included a 2018 option. The total value of his contract was $4 million. Even if Eovaldi tanks upon his return, many applauded the move as essential for “small market teams” such as the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Every single signing a team enters into carries a certain amount of risk, after all, so why shouldn’t a pitcher recovering from a very common — at this point — injury be regarded in much the same way?

There is another precedent for taking the other route. Rather than signing with a club while he recovered, reliever Greg Holland bet on himself, signed a one year-deal with the Rockies (with a player option), and will now reap the benefits of a strong 2017 season.

Another precedent is at play here, and that is the Pittsburgh Pirates’ ability to bring pitchers back from TJ surgery as an organizational principle. Nick Kingham, Jameson Taillon, Tyler Eppler and others have succumbed to the injury. Thus far, Pittsburgh has polished a sterling reputation in the way that it handles these recoveries. That might make the Pirates an attractive bounce-back option for someone in Rosenthal’s situation.

So why not?

In matching Rosenthal to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the roadblock comes down not due to any unnecessary risk-adversion on Pittsburgh’s part. Rather, the two sides might not even be a good fit.

For one, the Pirates plan on contending for at least the first half of 2018 with the core they have in place. Barring any major deal happening at the Winter Meetings, the club’s roster should not see much upheaval between now and the spring. We have seen the team acquire strikeout ability for their bullpen in much cheaper fashion with the acquisitions of Jack Leathersich, Nik Turley, and George Kontos. With Felipe Rivero holding down the later innings, would the Pittsburgh Pirates really be up for bringing on dead weight for a back of the bullpen arm?

With Daniel Hudson in tow, not likely.

Though Rosenthal has earned every right for a team to take a flyer on him, that team should not be the Pittsburgh Pirates.

However, the club should at least entertain the idea, and others like it should they come to pass. For a team that faces a great number of challenges, some of them self-inflicted, they must explore every avenue back to contention that may be available.

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