Jeff Snedden —
Last offseason, the Pittsburgh Pirates made a controversial move when they signed SP Francisco Liriano — who was coming off one of his worst major league seasons — to solidify the starting rotation. The deal with Liriano was originally going to be for two years and $14 million, but after a mishap with shutting his arm in the car door resulted in a broken right arm, the Pirates reformatted the deal into a one-year, $1 million guarantee with a vesting option for 2014. Even with the vastly reduced cost, many experts panned the deal as a desperate move between a bad franchise and an eternally damaged pitcher.
Liriano had pitched for two teams in 2012 — the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox — and finished with a 6-12 record and a 5.34 ERA in 156.2 IP. From 2009-2012, Liriano was one of the worst starting pitchers in baseball, never able to regain his form following Tommy John Surgery that forced him to miss the entire 2007 campaign. The Pirates had confidence that pitching coach Ray Searage could get the 29-year-old lefty back on track, at least well enough to provide another veteran presence in the starting rotation. After starting the season on the 15-day disabled list, Liriano would finish the year with a 16-8 record and his second Comeback Player of the Year Award. The turnaround re-established Liriano as a major league ace, and further established Searage as one of the brightest pitching coaches in all of baseball.
Turn the page to 2014, and the Pirates have once again taken a chance on former All-Star hurler who has run into tough times. Edinson Volquez was once considered one of the brightest pitching prospects in all of baseball, twice cracking the Baseball America Top 100 (2006 and 2007). After starting out his career with the Texas Rangers, Volquez was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, the main cog in a three-player deal that sent OF Josh Hamilton to Texas. In 2008, Volquez took a 12-3 record and 2.29 ERA into the All-Star Break, making the N.L. All-Star Team. He would finish the season with a 17-6 record and 3.21 ERA, tops in both categories for the Reds.
Cincinnati believed that they had their future ace, and in 2009 Volquez started the season 4-2 with a 4.35 ERA before succumbing to Tommy John surgery — ending his season. In 2010, Volquez was suspended 50 games by MLB after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. The Reds traded Volquez to the San Diego Padres during the 2011 offseason, and after a promising 2012 season (11-11, 4.14 ERA), he was released by the Friars last August. Volquez signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers and made five starts down the stretch, and despite a 0-2 record, the righty found his control (26/8 K/BB in 28 IP).
The comparisons between Volquez and Liriano are eerily similar. There is no question that Volquez has the arm and the ability to experience a similar renascence in Pittsburgh. While $5 million may seem like a big chance, in terms of MLB pitching salaries, it is a drop in the bucket. Volquez has struggled in Spring Training thus far, giving up 15 earned runs in 14.0 IP, but working with Searage has already shown improvements in both his mechanics and control. The Pirates are no longer in a position where they lack options, and even if he performs well, Volquez is probably keeping a seat warm for SP Jameson Taillon.
This is another opportunity for Ray Searage to work his magic, which he has done for Liriano, Charlie Morton and Jason Grilli. Searage has shown that he can bring even the most down on their luck pitchers back from the brink, and Volquez has the pedigree to become the next example of the Searage magic. The Pirates will give Volquez a chance to shine, and should he do so, it will simply provide the team with another option during the course of a long season. For one-year and $5 million, he is worth the risk
Andrew Barlow —
The eternal optimist in me longs for the start of baseball season, when a clean slate is presented to the Pittsburgh Pirates each spring. Last year, so many things finally went right and the team surged to not only a winning season, but the first playoff season in over 20 years. Much of that success was due to a solid starting rotation, top to bottom.
It started out including Jonathan Sanchez, the Giants and Royals castaway who had once enjoyed success, but ultimately ended in removal after just four starts, less than 14 innings, and a catastrophic 11.85 ERA and 0-3 record as a member of the 2013 Pirates. He was replaced and forgotten about due to the team’s depth led by veterans A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano, Wandy Rodriguez, Charlie Morton and youngsters Jeff Locke and, eventually, rookie ace Gerrit Cole. All but Burnett will return in 2014, and the only addition is former Ranger, Red, Padre and Dodger Edinson Volquez, 29, who will be in the rotation to start the season until either a) he fails and is sent to the bullpen or released, or b) Locke becomes fully healthy and is given the job.
Neal Huntington gave Volquez a one-year, $5 million deal in the offseason to ensure the addition of an arm in the event Burnett would not re-sign, which became a reality after a long period of indecision. Volquez had a great 2008 season for Cincinnati, making the All-Star team and finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting while going 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA and more strikeouts (206) than innings pitched (196).
Aside from that great year, he took three poor years in Texas to establish himself as a Major Leaguer, then suffered through three injury-shortened seasons from 2009-2011 in Cincinnati. After being kicked to the curb there, he was mediocre in 2012 for San Diego (11-11, 4.14 ERA, league-leading 105 walks) and last year between there and Los Angeles, going a combined 9-12 with a 5.92 ERA in 32 starts.
With numbers like that, it seems as though the very average 2012 would be a hopeful outcome for this bottom-of-the-rotation arm. The Pirates certainly love resurrection projects, having had great success with Liriano last year. Pitching coach Ray Searage will try to work his magic again and, as all of Buc Nation ought to hope, he may be successful in getting positive production out of Volquez. However, I look at his body of work and am very skeptical. Will he bomb like Sanchez did last year? Probably not, but if I had to predict an outcome of his first month or two in Pittsburgh, I see minimal wins, a lot of walks and a frustrated fan base furious at the team’s inability to compete every fifth day when Volquez takes the mound. I see the likes of Locke, top prospects Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow, or perhaps even Stolmy Pimentel putting the pressure on the front office to eject Volquez from the rotation, or possibly even the roster.
He will have to be really bad for them to flush $5 million down the toilet, but getting hopes up on a guy who posted an ERA of 6.01 for a team that plays in one of baseball’s most pitcher-friendly parks (San Diego’s Petco Park) seems irresponsible, does it not? Here’s to hoping Huntington saw something (again) that the rest of us did not, but until that comes to fruition, we will be holding our breath. The adventure begins Sunday, April 6, when Volquez is projected to battle Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright. Good luck, Edinson.
