The Pittsburgh Pirates have assembled its starting pitching rotation well ahead of Sunday's 3 p.m. deadline to finalize a 25-man roster. Last season, the Pirates ranked eighth in all of Major League Baseball and fifth in the National League with a 3.47 ERA and ranked fourth with a 3.05 ERA in the second half of the season. Pirates starters combined for a 3.60 ERA, seven shutouts, two complete games, a .249 batting average against and 798 strikeouts in 971 innings of work. Though the ... Read More
Alvarez, defense keys in Pirates tie
The Pittsburgh Pirates saw its first two pitchers on staff have good outings in a 3-3 extra inning tie Wednesday evening against the Baltimore Orioles. Francisco Liriano was the first to pitch and threw three innings while allowing his first run of Spring Training. Liriano now has a 0.75 ERA. He allowed three hits and struck out two batters in his time on the mound. Liriano was replaced by Gerrit Cole who threw three scoreless innings allowing one hit and one walk while striking out three ... Read More
Liriano to start opening day; Pirates lose to Astros
Jeff Locke's quest for a spot in the Pirates rotation took a hit during Tuesday's 13-7 loss to the Houston Astros. On a day when Francisco Liriano was revealed to be the Opening Day pitcher in Cincinnati, Locke pitched three-plus innings, allowing seven hits, six runs and a walk. “I just left some pitches over the plate,” Locke said. “They just fell in.” Locke is battling with Vance Worley for the final position in the Pirates rotation and currently, the Spring Training statistics favor ... Read More
Pirates win; Brandon Cumpton undergoes Tommy John surgery
Francisco Liriano made a strong case to start Opening Day throwing three scoreless innings in a 4-3 Spring Training win Tuesday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays. In his three innings of work, Liriano surrendered one hit while striking out four batters. He also registered a single. "I just want to get better each start," Liriano said. "I was pretty happy with what I did today." "He's never going to be a guy who just goes out there to get his work in," Manager Clint Hurdle said. "He's ... Read More
Pirates fall to Yankees; Harrison injury ‘minor setback’
The Pittsburgh Pirates fell to 1-2 in Spring Training after a 2-1 loss Thursday to the New York Yankees (1-1-1) in front of a sellout crowd of 7,879. Fred Lewis (1-0) picked up the win for the Yankees and Deolis Guerra (0-1) suffered the loss for the Pirates. Taylor Garrison threw the ninth inning to earn the save. The Pirates lone run came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Jaff Decker singled in Willy Garcia who had a 2-for-2 day at the plate. Decker has a .600 batting average thus ... Read More
Pirates re-sign Liriano
The Pittsburgh Pirates have made their first major move of the Winter Meetings as they are finalizing re-signing left-handed starter Francisco Liriano to a 3-year/$39 million contract as first reported by Robert Murray of MLB Daily Rumors. Source: Francisco Liriano to the #Pirates on a three-year, $39 million deal. — Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayMLB) December 9, 2014 This comes as a bit of a surprise because Liriano decided to sign before the market had been fully established with the ... Read More
Pirates pushing for Liriano
The Pirates are making Francisco Liriano a high priority as the offseason works it's way towards the winter meetings. Chris Cotello of MLB Daily Dish reports the Pirates are prioritizing re-signing Liriano. However, no deal is close yet. Sources: #Pirates are prioritizing re-signing Francisco Liriano. http://t.co/k6oXTN4p7j — Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 1, 2014 Source: Nothing appears imminent between #Pirates and Liriano, though team is trying hard to re-sign him. — ... Read More
Liriano to reject qualifying offer
Francisco Liriano has rejected the Pirates qualifying offer of $15.3 million as reported by Robert Murray. Francisco Liriano will reject the $15.3 million qualifying offer from the #Pirates, per league source. — Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayMLB) November 10, 2014 The #Pirates have not been informed on Liriano's decision, but he will reject the qualifying offer, I'm told. — Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayMLB) November 10, 2014 Liriano — who had until 5 p.m. Monday to ... Read More
Martin rejects qualifying offer
As expected, Russell Martin has rejected the Pirates $15.3 million qualifying offer as reported by Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. no surprise, martin, who has very strong market, will reject qualifying offer. #cubs #bucs #la http://t.co/5yEON4CFYD— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) November 10, 2014 Martin — who is the biggest free agent at catcher — is expected to get a large multi-year offer which could be as high as $13-$15 million per year over a 4-5 year contract. Martin ... Read More
Pirates give Martin, Liriano qualifying offers
The Pittsburgh Pirates have given qualifying offers of $15.3 million each to Russell Martin and Francisco Liriano. Martin — who is the best catcher on the free agent market — posted a slash line of .290/.430/.832 with 11 home runs, 20 doubles and 67 RBI in 460 plate appearances. He struck out only 78 times which is second-lowest in his nine year career. Martin is a finalist for a gold glove award at catcher thanks to another solid season behind the plate posting a .994 fielding percentage ... Read More