Bringing Gonzo Back?

One of the biggest holes that the Pirates' have is a lack of left handed relievers. Currently, the Pirates have 4 left handed pitchers eligible on the 40 man roster (Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, Donnie Veal, Phil Dumatrait), three of whom are starters. That leaves Phil Dumatrait as the lone southpaw in the Pirates pen. Not exactly ideal, is it?

Well MLB Trade Rumors reported today that the Pirates have an interest in signing Mike Gonzalez, whom they traded to the Braves for Adam LaRoche in the offseason before the 2007 season.

Gonzalez is a Type A free agent, so it won't be easy to sign him. The Pirates will have to compete with some of the big spenders in the majors. Mike Gonzalez could help the Pirates as much or more than he could help any other team in the league, especially with how Matt Capps performed last year.

Despite that, there are some reasons that signing him would not make much sense. First, the amount of money the Pirates would spend on him would probably be better spent elsewhere. When you don't have much to spend, you really want to invest it wisely, and I personally don't think this would be a wise investment. Secondly, the fact that Gonzalez is a lefty wouldn't bring as much value to the Pirates for the sole fact that he is a closer. The whole reason teams get a mixture of lefties and righties is so they can have the upper hand in matchups.

For example, the Pirates are tied with the Brewers in the 7th inning and Ryan Braun hits a 2-out double off of Chris Jakubauskas. Then, Prince Fielder steps to the plate with a chance to give the Brewers a lead with a big hit. Now, John Russell doesn't want Jakubauskas to face Fielder because Prince has been killing righties all year, so he looks to the bullpen to bring in a lefty. He has already used Dumatrait, and now he can't even use Gonzalez because he is the closer and there is a good chance this game will be a save situation 20 minutes later. So, he leaves Jakubauskas in and Fielder clubs a 2-run homer and the Brewers win the ball game.

My point is, if the Pirates are going to sign a left handed reliever, they shouldn't spend closer-money. Sign a middle of the pack free agent who will have less offers from other teams and will cost less. The kind of lefty the Pirates need doesn't have to have lights out stuff, just the fact that the ball is coming out of his left hand would be enough in a lot of cases.

The Pirates should, and almost surely will, pass on Mike Gonzalez.