Pittsburgh Pirates need to sign an established starter

The Pittsburgh Pirates have great success with reclamation projects. But are they going to the well too much?

We are currently a little over a month removed from the final out of the 2015 World Series, which means we’re still relatively early into the free agency period. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been mostly quiet outside of shopping some players and non-tendering Pedro Alvarez. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as more often than not, it isn’t until the Winter Meetings that major moves are made by the Pirates.

The Pirates will clearly need to add a first base option with the release of Alvarez, but they will also likely try to strengthen the starting pitching by adding an arm or two. They have been linked to two pitchers so far, Justin Masterson and Trevor Cahill.

Both Masterson and Cahill fit the Pirates’ recent mold of reclamation projects. Taking a once promising pitcher that has fallen on hard times and letting Ray Searage fix his flaws and turn him into a superstar. It’s worked remarkably well in the last few years. A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano, Edinson Volquez and most recently J.A. Happ have all been successful reclamation projects for the Pirates. The system has worked way more often than it hasn’t as Jonathan Sanchez is really the only outright failure of this philosophy.

Most fans accept this and understand when the Pirates are interested in a pitcher with poor numbers, they must see something they can fix. This has been one of the biggest reasons the Pirates have made the playoffs the last three seasons, but is it time for the Pirates to start adding more established arms?

Reclamation projects are fantastic and it’s abundantly clear that the Pirates know what they’re doing in this regard, but since game three of the 2013 NLDS, the Pirates are winless in four post season games, including getting knocked out in the Wildcard Game in 2014 and 2015. The Pirates have preached winning the division and avoiding the Wildcard Game altogether the last couple of seasons and they’ve gotten ridiculously close to accomplishing this goal. However, they have yet to really get over the top. Could adding a more established arm or two have saved them from this fate and resulted in a division title? It’s really hard to say one way or another and I am not going to make some outrageous claim about the past two seasons. Teams with established starters lose all the time and nothing is guaranteed in baseball, but is it time to change the current approach?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won a lot recently and have turned into one of the model organizations in the game. They have risen from the abyss to become a winning club with a winning atmosphere. A large reason for that has been depending on reclamation projects, but maybe adding one established arm could help get the team over the top in both the regular and the post season. You could still sign your reclamation project-type pitcher, but by adding a more sure thing arm, you could realistically bump either Jeff Locke or Charlie Morton out of the rotation or have them compete for a job in Spring Training.

Jeff Locke and Charlie Morton are both acceptable backend of the rotation starters, but they were unreliable at best in 2015 and that unreliability contributed to the Pirates making another Wildcard Game appearance. If the Pirates want to finally take the next step and win the NL Central division in 2016, they need to try something new because while the system has worked, it has resulted in three consecutive second place finishes behind the St. Louis Cardinals. It could be time to try something different in an attempt to catch the Cardinals and avoid that pesky one-game playoff.

I am not saying throw some ungodly amount of money at a pitcher because that will never happen, but I think there are some realistic and affordable non-reclamation pitchers the Pirates could look at. One name that really intrigues me is Scott Kazmir, most recently of the Houston Astros. Since the start of the 2013 season, he has a 3.56 ERA with a 3.61 FIP and has thrown an average of 177 innings a season. He has been a consistent and steady performer and is only 31-years-old. He could be a very attractive candidate for the Pirates and while he isn’t David Price or Zack Greinke, he is someone that would instantly add depth to the Pirates’ rotation as he’d end up the third starter after Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano. If you add Kazmir and a reclamation pitcher, you create a situation where you don’t need to rely on both Jeff Locke and Charlie Morton to have bounce back seasons.

I love that the Pirates have earned a reputation as an organization that can save starting pitchers and turn their careers around. I am proud of the work Ray Searage and the recently departed Jim Benedict have done and I don’t want it to stop, but maybe adding a more established starting pitcher could be just the thing the Pirates need to finally overtake the St. Louis Cardinals and win the NL Central division.

Reclamation projects are great, but the Cardinals and Cubs aren’t going anywhere and it may be time to change the approach a bit. The NL Central division is pitching heavy and the Cubs have proven they aren’t afraid to go after aces, so maybe it would be in the Pirates’ best interest to finally add a proven starting pitcher. Making the Wild Card Game is nice, but I think in 2016 we all want a division championship and a guaranteed NLDS appearance.

Personally, I am sick and tired of the NL Wildcard Game.

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