The Pittsburgh Pirates have made a signing just after the regular season ends.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have decided to sign back a former World Series champion to a minor-league deal following the conclusion of the MLB season for them.
Pittsburgh signed veteran pitcher Jose Urquidy to a minor-league deal, assigning him to Triple-A. Urquidy was with Pittsburgh earlier this season, seeing five games of action for the team.
The right-hander posted a 8.53 ERA over 6.1 innings before the team moved on from him. Urquidy also saw time with the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies this year, bouncing around the league.
The veteran recently elected free agency from the Phillies, and now he will look to get back on track with Pittsburgh next season. Urquidy wasn't eligible to be part of the playoffs for the Phillies, making it an easy decision for the team to designate him for assignment.
Nobody claimed him since he would be a free agent at the end of the season, and now he lands with Pittsburgh on a minor-league deal. Overall, he posted a 4.95 ERA over 36.1 innings, appearing in 13 games this year across the three teams.
Urquidy had a strong walk rate this season, coming in at 4.3 percent, but his strikeout rate was low, coming in at 18.3 percent. The veteran will need to work on this moving forward if he wants to see more success at the big-league level again.
The big success from 2026 for the veteran was that he was healthy and was able to mostly go through the season. After undergoing Tommy John surgery years ago, Urquidy wasn't the same pitcher, missing most of the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Before then, he was an effective pitcher for the Houston Astros, throwing 342 innings over 63 appearances. With Houston he posted a 3.74 ERA, showing a strong ability to perform at this level.
But he regressed following the 2022 season, and then was forced to have the surgeyr. However, he seems healthy now and will look to make a difference next season with the Purates, assuming they keep him on the roster.
Urquidy can either be a bullpen depth piece for the Pirates or even a backend starter if the team wants. But either way, he will need to put in the work this offseason, getting ready for another big-league year.
The right-hander owns a career ERA of 4.08 over 94 games, throwing 443.2 innings. The 31-year-old still has a lot left in the tank, and the Pirates will work with him over the offseason.
