Pittsburgh Pirates Rumor Mill – Free Agent Starting Pitchers

Welcome to the weekly Pittsburgh Pirates Rumor Mill, where we update you on all of the latest Pirates trades, signings, rumors, injury news, promotions, demotions, and the like from the past week.

It’s gotten to the point in the season where us Pittsburgh Pirates fans may want to look ahead to the off-season. We’re here to help you do that. let’s get right to it.

The biggest need for the Pirates this off-season, in my opinion, is a quality starter. The top of the rotation looks solid with Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, and Tyler Glasnow likely the top three to start the year. Chad Kuhl will also most likely occupy one of the final two spots. But the last spot is wide open right now. Drew Hutchison looked to be the front-runner for that spot, and he’ll certainly get a shot at it considering what the Pirates gave up to acquire him, but he might not be the answer there. Jeff Locke is finished as a starter (at least for the Pirates), as is Juan Nicasio. And Steven Brault could get a shot, but he is better served as a depth option.

I’m all for re-signing Ivan Nova. His signing would allow the Pirates to maintain quality starting pitching depth to begin the season with Hutchison and Brault working out of Triple-A. His signing would also help to be a safeguard if Cole continues to regress or if Glasnow doesn’t work out. But whether it’s Nova or someone else, the Pirates would benefit greatly from adding an additional starter this off-season rather than working solely from within.

But before we get to who might be out there, let’s get to the injuries.

Injury Updates

As we near the home stretch, and with the Pirates fading out of the playoff race, injuries won’t have a significant impact on the team, and shouldn’t be a major concern unless it’s a major injury.

We saw Gerrit Cole, Chris Stewart, and Elias Diaz all get shut down for the season, and that is best for the three of them. I’m most concerned with Stewart’s injury, as he’ll require surgery and seems to have some doubt about his baseball future. He’s under contract for at least one more season, albeit for only $1.4 million. This could be paving the way for Diaz to take over as the backup next season.

These are the only three players on the disabled list for the Pirates at the moment.

Minor Moves

We didn’t see too much of significance this past week in terms of minor moves, but there were a few. Jacob Stallings returned to the big league club, and left-handed pitcher Zach Phillips was called up as well. The Pirates also traded for left-handed pitcher Wade LeBlanc from the Mariners, who could be a piece for the bullpen next season.

Nova contract guesses

Nova continues his dominance as a Pirate, and he’s doing it in a contract year where the upcoming free agent starting pitching class is poor to put it nicely. There is much speculation among Pirates’ fans as to what kind of contract Nova could get, and if it’d be worth it for the Pirates to re-sign him. I’m very pro-re-sign Nova for a number of different reasons. He’s only 29, the Pirates need a starter for next season, and maybe it’s time the Pirates kept one of the players they turned around. And with the Pirates shedding the salaries for Francisco Liriano, Jon Niese, and Mark Melancon this season, and with little-to-no major holes to fill in the off-season, the team seemingly has money to use this winter. Why not spend it on a pitcher that Ray Searage was able to turn around, and then continue to fill the bullpen with quality players without spending there, as Neal Huntington has always been able to do?

What could Nova get? One guess comes from Jon Heyman in Today’s Knuckleball as he outlines his top 30 free agents. His best guess for Nova’s contract this winter: three years, $42 million. That’s $14 million per year. That makes sense. If I’m the Pirates, I jump at that deal. Nova would become the highest paid Pirate, but it’d only be a three year deal. And the risk of injury or regression from age would be much less for Nova than it was for Liriano or Happ at the time of their signings. He’d be worth the risk.

Free Agent Starting Pitchers

But if Nova doesn’t work out, there are other free agent starting pitchers out there, but the Pirates will have to be selective as the market is barren. Jeremy Hellickson and Andrew Cashner are options (I prefer Hellickson), as are Mat Latos, Doug Fister, and Brett Anderson. For a bounce-back candidate, I wouldn’t mind the Pirates targeting Jhoulys Chacin, a pitcher almost no one talks about across the league. He’s having a down year and only made five starts in 2015. He’s battled injury issues during his career, but he has a 4.02 career ERA while spending his first six seasons pitching half his games in Colorado. For all of the love Jorge De La Rosa got as the “ace” of the Rockies staff over the past few years, Chacin was just as good of a pitcher as him during his time there. If the Pirates add a quality fifth starter, I wouldn’t mind them adding Chacin as well.

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