Pirates Actually Spend Money in Free Agency in Shocking Turn of Events and Sign Left-Handed Reliever
By Mark Powell
Oh yes, your eyes don't deceive you. The Pittsburgh Pirates are ACTIVE on the free agent market, adding oh-so-subtly to their sub-$50 million payroll.
Pittsburgh and owner Bob Nutting are prominently featured at the forefront of MLB's payroll problem. Yet, that hasn't stopped Ben Cherington and Co. from *gasps* improving the bullpen heading into Spring Training.
Pirates, Robbie Erlin Agree To Minor League Deal https://t.co/h8I9v4natq pic.twitter.com/qJLMkZnOiv
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) January 30, 2020
Robbie Erlin is far from a big name, but his ability as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen could actually pay dividends for a Pirates team that desperately needs some help in that department. Erlin's ERA as a reliever (sub-4) over the course of his career is over one run better than his mark as a starter. As such, that's likely where he'll be featured the most.
The #Pirates sign veteran reliever Robbie Erlin to minor-league contract that will pay him $1.5 million on the big-league roster with $100,000 in incentives. He'll be in their spring training camp and can opt out if not on the opening-day #MLB roster.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 30, 2020
The Pirates spending $1.5 million is actually fairly equivalent to you or I doing the same. We'll do Nutting a favor and describe him as fiscally conservative. Yet, a day after shedding nearly $10 million of payroll in the Starling Marte trade, he felt like he had some wiggle room in the budget.