The Winter Meetings have come and gone , and the Pittsburgh Pirates now approach the holidays.
Aside from some minor transactions, the Pittsburgh Pirates have done nothing to address their mos glaring need. With Derek Holland signing with the White Sox, it might now be Ivan Nova or bust in terms of the Pirates signing a free agent starting pitcher. Or is it? After eight years in Colorado, Jorge De La Rosa is a free agent. Could he be the man to help solidify the Pirates starting rotation in 2017?
Behind the Numbers
In 2016, De La Rosa threw 134.0 inning over 27 games (24 starts) with an ineffective 5.51 ERA backed by an equally ineffective 5.35 FIP. Over his career, De La Rosa has never pitched 200 innings and has only reached the 180 mark twice. Sure, pitching at Coors Field is extremely difficult but that wasn’t an excuse for De La Rosa in 2016. His home ERA was 5.23 while his ERA on the road was 5.84.
With a career 4.64 ERA and 4.43 FIP, De La Rosa has never been a top of the rotation type of guy. That being said, he was pretty bad in 2016. His K% dropped from 21.1% to 17.6% from 2015 to 2016. Being a soft tossing lefty pitching in thin air, De La Rosa’s 4.2 BB/9 in 2016 was also way too high.
The left-hander was slightly unlucky in 2016 as his opponent batting average was .289, the highest it has been since 2007. With an xFIP of 4.81, De La Rosa certainly pitched slightly better than his ERA indicates.
The Repertoire
Jorge De La Rosa leaned heavily on his “hard” stuff in 2016 throwing his four-seam fastball 35.6 percent of the time and his cutter 21.0 percent of the time. He threw the changeup at a 33.7 percent rate mixing in an occasional curveball at a 9.7 rate.
The fastball velocity has declined over the past two seasons. From 2014-2016, Jorge De La Rosa’s fastball has averaged 92.3, 91.4, and 90.1 mph. That trend does not bode well for the 35 year old.
Should the Pittsburgh Pirates jump on him?
Absolutely not.
I get that the free agent market is thin and it seems like the Pirates NEED to make a move (they do). But this is not a move they should make. The last thing the Pirates need is an aging fifth starter with high walk totals and declining velocity.
Jorge De La Rosa currently possesses three positive traits. He is left handed. His career ground ball rate is pretty high at 46.9 percent He’d be leaving Coors Field.
That’s about it.
Is he really any better than Jeff Locke, who the club let walk?
The dog days of the offseason are upon us. Not much is going on. The Pirates must stay patient. In order to improve the starting rotation, the Pirates will have to sign Ivan Nova or make a trade. Jorge De La Rosa would simply not improve the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rotation.
Featured image credit – Flickr Creative Commons
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