Morning Rundown: Pirates sign Andrew Heaney, minor leaguers released, Pirates were in on Jose Quintana
Pirates sign free agent left handed pitcher, was pursuing another before
The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed free agent left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney to a one-year contract worth $5.25 million with incentives.
Heaney, 33, went 5-14 with the Texas Rangers last year, posting a 4.28 ERA over 160 innings pitched (2.2 fWAR). He struck out 159 batters to 41 walks.
During the Rangers’ World Series run a year before, Heaney went 10-6 with a 4.15 ERA and 151 strikeouts in 147.1 innings pitched. He was also key in the World Series against the Diamondbacks, picking up a win while allowing just an earned run over 5.2 innings.
He’ll join a rotation that already features Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Bailey Falter, and potentially Johan Oviedo. This does allow some flexibility to their roster construction, at least on the pitching side.
I’ll have a full story on Heaney on Saturday.
According to the transaction log, the Pirates have released the following:
RHP Angel Herrera
C Lennyn Nunez
OF Angel Rodriguez
RHP Jonathan Salazar
SS Joenelly Van Der Linden
SS Daje Morales
OF Juan Machado
OF Ewry Espinal
RHP Kevison Hernandez
OF Sergio Campana
The most notable name out the group is Campana, who finished last season in Greensboro with the Grasshoppers. Known for his speed and defense, Campana also had some sneaky power as well, but struck out at too high a rate.
Hernandez had an interesting fastball, but walked 40 batters in 32.1 innings over the last two years.
According to Robert Murray of FanSided, the Pirates were in on Jose Quintana. The offered him more money than they did Heaney, but Quintana rejected the offer.
Quintana played for the Pirates during the 2022 season, posting a 3-5 record and 3.50 ERA in 20 starts before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Malcom Nunez and Johan Oviedo.
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All offseason, I've advocated for adding another lefty starter, and I believed Heaney and Quintana were the best options. I think this move is great, as it prevents them from rushing guys and possibly allows them to strengthen the bullpen with Oviedo, Burrows, or Ashcraft. I wish they would have added a left-handed power bat this offseason, as that's the only thing missing in my opinion. Perhaps Jack Suwinski will fill that gap.
Spring training starting pitchers- What I noticed, so take it with a grain of salt.
1) Carmen Mlodzinski has been working out with starting pitchers this spring and starting the opener tomorrow. His stuff has been looking nasty, so I probably jinxed him for sure.
2) Thomas Harrington made hitters look fooled, but also gave up solid contact. I'm not sure how many of those would have been hits and how many would be outs.
3) Paul Skenes looked like he could no hit the Pirates hitters every game.
4) Johna Oviedo looked healthy and strong.
5) Jared Jones also looked healthy and strong.
6) Bubba Chandler lived up to the hype.
7) Mitch Keller looked solid as usual.
8) Bailey Falter looked better than last spring.
9) Hunter Barco-I didn't see pitch, but saw him up close. He's every bit 6'4 225 pounds of muscle.
10) Braxton Ashcraft-Didn't pitch bad.
11) Mike Burrows- I didn't get to his field to see him pitch.
12) Anthony Solometo- better than he did in the minors last year.
13) Andrew Heaney- missed spring training practice with the Pirates.