The Pirates need pitching. Badly. There have been all kinds of rumors floating around this offseason about the Pirates going after a pitcher and signing him to a multi-year deal. The top pitcher on the market, outside of Cliff Lee, is probably Jorge De La Rosa. The Pirates have made him their number one target, but they are not the only team interested. The Brewers, Rangers, Nationals, Yankees, and Rockies have all shown interest in signing him (or re-signing him in Colorado's case). The Pirates have some money to spend and I think De La Rosa is a good guy to spend it in.
Jorge De La Rosa is 29 years old and first made a big league appearance in 2004, with the Milwaukee Brewers. He has a career record of 49-47 with a 5.02 ERA. His best season was in 2009 when he went 16-9 with a 4.38 ERA. He has actually pitched better at home than on the road, which used to be unheard of for a pitcher that called Coors Field his home. However, it appears that that has changed for some unknown reason so we can't really take much from Coors Field numbers anymore.
De La Rosa is a strikeout pitcher, which the Pirates could desperately use. His career K/9 is at a solid 8, and his best ratio was in that 2009 season when he struck out 9.4 batters per nine innings. He has a career BB/9 of 4.5, which isn't particularly good and has certainly has not helped his case.
In a year where there were a lot of really good arms on the free agent market, De La Rosa probably would not be near the top. However, this year is kind of slim on pitching so he is near the top of the list and will be paid more because of it. The Pirates are going to have to pay more for him than they would normally like to for a guy of his calibur, but the need is so great that I think the Pirates have no choice but to go after him with seriousness.
However signing De La Rosa certainly wouldn't bring all positives to the table. The Pirates would lose their 2nd round draft pick since he is a type-A free agent. Also, since the market is slim on pitching, they are going to have tie up a good amount of money in him, which would really hurt us down the line if he doesn't perform well for a few years. He could come to Pittsburgh and have a Cy Young season (which he isn't even capable of) in 2011 and the Pirates still won't sniff the playoffs. The only way it would be a good thing to give him a lot of money is if he pitches well for 3-4 years and stays healthy. The Pirates aren't going to contend in 2011 so they need to have 2012 and 2013 and years beyond in mind when signing guys this offseason. Even though the Pirates have money to spend this offseason, they have to be wise about how they spend it.
Another option for the Pirates is former top prospect Jeff Francis. Francis was the Rockies first round pick in the 2002 draft and has played in 6 different seasons in the majors. He debuted in 2004 and missed the entire 2009 season because of injury. His career ERA is 4.77 with a 6.1 K/9 ratio and a 2.9 BB/9. He clearly has not lived up to anywhere near the hype he was given, and his ceiling is shrinking as he has reached the age of 29. He will be 30 by the seasons start and his numbers are not as impressive as De La Rosa's, so I would be upset if the Pirates go after Francis instead of De La Rosa.
Pittsburgh is not an attractive destination for established big leaguers, but the addition of Clint Hurdle could definitely help our cause when going after former Rockies like De La Rosa and Francis (although you can never be sure if they even liked Hurdle as manager or not). Everybody knows that Pittsburgh is an up and coming team with a definite chance to do some damage in the next couple seasons, but tha alone won't be enough to persuade anybody to come here, so they are going to simply have to be the highest bidder. Here's hoping something goes right this winter.
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