3 under the radar moves I'd like to see

slider71 · Post by **slider71** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:59 pm

With the Pirates being VERY quiet so far this offseason, it's given me a little more time to research some under the radar guys I'd like to see the Pirates move on. I'm excluding my bigger targets like Nova and Ross simply because I think they will be offered more money elsewhere. I'm focusing on free agents here simply because I would hate to give up a Keller or Glasnow to bring in an "established" veteran pitcher.

Starting pitcher- I would really like to see the Pirates bring in Trevor Cahill to vie for a spot in the rotation. This is a younger free agent (29) who had 3 outstanding seasons earlier in his career as a starter for the Athletics/Arizona. He struggles with injuries a couple seasons in Arizona and then resurfaced in the Cubs bullpen a couple years ago. Last season he was outstanding in a swing role (2.74 ERA) while throwing a lot of ground balls and striking out over a batter per inning. He is marketing himself as a starter this offseason and I could see a value play in this kind of signing.

Fallback option- If the medicals check out it would be nice to get 15-20 quality starts out of Brett Anderson while the young guys hone their skills at Indy.

Bullpen Arm- The Pirates might be looking at a couple options here but I'm focusing on RH relievers to put in the backend. The numbers looked bad for Drew Storen last year (5.23 ERA) but he finished the season real strong ( 8 IP,0ER, 0BB, 9K), and he has some closing experience in the past. The one downfall here is that his Velocity has been going the wrong way the last few years and settled in at 91MPH last season.

Backup plans- Chris Withrow had a good season, is young and averaged 94MPH on his heater last season

Santiago Casilla blew 9 saves last season, but his underlying stats say he can still be effective.

Utility- I'm really not sure the Pirates will sign anyone to replace Rodriguez and Joyce. But if Hansen or Rogers bomb the Pirates will want to have an emergency plan in place.

Dustin Ackley- This would be a guy the Pirates have liked in the past who has yet to figure it out at the major league level. If healthy, I could see the Pirates giving him a minor league deal to see if he can untap the potential he showed in the past.

If the Pirates wanted a sure thing they could spend the extra money and bring in the versataille Stephen Drew in to fill the Rodriguez role

Wondering what others think? Any other "under the radar" guys you could see the Pirates signing over the next little while.

Slider

Ecbucs · Post by **Ecbucs** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 2:40 am

Travis Wood from Cubs. Don't know what kind of deal he is looking for. Apparently wants to start again.

Made a little over 6 million for Cubs last year.

slider71 · Post by **slider71** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 3:55 am

I actually considered Wood until I looked a little deeper into the numbers.

His Era was solid last year but he's not a groundball guy and his 6k/9 is a little underwhelming. His xzfip last season was 4.83 so he might have been a little lucky. The biggest reason against him however is that while he dominates lefty's (449OPS), righty's have their way with him (.865OPS) and that doesn't bode well for a guy who wants to start.

The plus with Wood of course is that he might outhit half our lineup.

Slider

UtahPirate · Post by **UtahPirate** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 5:03 am

Thanks for putting some ideas out there. Your Cahill suggestion is interesting.

Rumbunter threw out Joe Blanton as an idea for the bullpen. Blanton pitched well for us at the end of 2015. Don't know how much he'd cost, but another interesting name.

http://rumbunter.com/2016/12/16/pirates ... e-blanton/