According to Jon Morosi, the Pittsburgh Pirates are searching the trade market for left-handed relief help.
Pirates checking trade market for LH relief options. Tony Watson is their only proven LH reliever after the Justin Wilson deal.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 9, 2014
As Morosi points out, the team dealt away Justin Wilson, leaving Tony Watson as their only remaining lefty in the bullpen. They’ve got some internal options like Bobby LaFromboise, Andy Oliver, and possibly Jeff Locke. They also signed Clayton Richard to a minor league deal, with the possibility that he could be a lefty option out of the pen, or starting depth out of Triple-A.
Rob Biertempfel says that the Pirates are looking at relievers, and like Pat Neshek, who isn’t a lefty.
With Liriano back in fold, #pirates seeking relief help and have some $$ to spend. They like Pat Neshek.
— RobBiertempfel (@RobBiertempfel) December 9, 2014
Neshek is currently a free agent, so that doesn’t fit with Morosi’s rumor.
After the Francisco Liriano agreement, it was also rumored that they were turning their attention to Edinson Volquez. If Volquez was signed, that would make a rotation of Liriano, Gerrit Cole, A.J. Burnett, Edinson Volquez, and either Vance Worley or Jeff Locke. If they did bring in Volquez, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to shift Locke to the bullpen and see if he could become the next Andrew Miller/Zach Duke type lefty reliever.