Back on December 21st, we heard that the Pittsburgh Pirates agreed on a two-year deal with left-handed pitcher Francisco Liriano. After a long delay, it was reported that Liriano hurt his right arm after the agreement, which was holding up the deal. Later it was learned that Liriano broke his humerus, apparently in a fall in the bathroom.
The Pirates and Liriano reportedly agreed to a revised deal on January 21st. The new agreement would alter Liriano’s salary if he missed any time with the right arm injury. It’s been a little over a week since that took place, and the deal still hasn’t become official. Tom Singer reported that he could be coming in on a minor league deal, which would make it easy to adjust his salary based on time missed. The Pirates would only have to pay Liriano based on his time on the 40-man roster. For example, if he missed a month, then was added to the 40-man in May, he would only receive a pro-rated salary for his time from May to the end of the season.
The Sports Xchange, a news wire service that provides news to various outlets, has an update on Liriano. I’ve seen the exact same story in several newspapers in search results, but first noticed it today in Yahoo. The latest holdup, according to the report, is on that minor league deal.
The holdup now appears to be that the Pirates want to sign Liriano to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league spring training and a legitimate chance to make the rotation. However, Liriano is said to at least want one guaranteed year with an option for 2014.
This is a very unique situation, and because of that, it’s very messy. If Liriano agreed to a minor league deal, that would make it possible to reduce his pay based on time he missed from the injury. However, I’m not sure that you can do a two-year minor league deal, and a minor league deal definitely doesn’t guarantee any salary.
The article goes on to say that the Pirates don’t want to give any guaranteed money, since their doctors don’t think Liriano would be ready to start the season on time. It also said they would be comfortable walking away from the deal and going with Jeff Locke or Kyle McPherson, with the rest of the rotation made up of A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez, James McDonald, and Jeff Karstens.
Based on everything we’ve heard, it seems the Pirates are still willing to give Liriano the original deal. However, it also appears they don’t want to start guaranteeing him money until he’s fully recovered from the injury. Because of the way baseball contracts work, I don’t think that there’s a way to make that happen without a minor league deal, which doesn’t guarantee any money.
+ postsTim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.
Tim: Not really a pleasant subject, but when you mentioned our Rotation, why Jeff Karstens? Burnett, Rodriguez, ans JMAC – Yes, but Karstens? The Pirates have a horrible record of bringing guys up as SP’s – were Maholm and Duke the last? We non-tendered the guy because we did not think we needed him. Jeff Locke was 10-5, 2.48 ERA and one of the best pitchers in the AAA International league. He averaged 6 innings each of his 24 starts and a K/W per 9 of 8.32/2.73 is excellent. At Pittsburgh he was 1-3, 5.50 ERA. His K/W per 9 of 8.91/2.88 was excellent. Last year he was brought up after pitching 142 innings in AAA. So we saw him pitching the last 34 innings of his total of 176 IP in 2012. His ERA was high, but ERA does not always tell the complete story, and, in this case, did not reflect the positive peripherals. IMO, Burnett, Rodriguez, JMAC, Locke, and then either Liriano, Karstens, McPherson, Leroux, or Justin Wilson.
One note on Karstens, they non-tendered him because of the price and his issues staying healthy, not because they didn’t need him.
As for the rotation, I could still see Locke and McPherson making the final two spots if Liriano doesn’t sign or isn’t healthy. If Liriano does sign, I think Locke and McPherson will battle it out for the final spot.
Walk, no run, away.
I am all for “NO PLAY, NO PAY”, but that is not the MLB way, this guy wants guarantees and the Pirates don’t want to give away money. Tough situation for Pirate management. Since he is not signed yet and he thinks he is worth a major league contract with major health issues, why doesn’t he find another taker for his services, oh, maybe there isn’t one.
I say, go sign with someone else Mr Liriano….oh and good luck with that!
Wow.
Do we have to start figuring out who to trade for Chris Capuano…..AGAIN?