The Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting rotation leans heavily to the right, and that has nothing to do with the pitchers’ political viewpoints.
The top four starters are all right-handed: Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, and Bubba Chandler. Two of the three pitchers who figure to compete for the fifth starter’s job, Carmen Mlodzinski and Thomas Harrington, are also righties. That leaves prospect Hunter Barco as the lone potential left-hander, and he has pitched three innings in the major leagues.
So, it would make sense for the Pirates to add a left-handed starter and even more sense after trading right-handers Mike Burrow and Johan Oviedo last month for hitters.
The top left-handers on the free agent market are Ranger Suarez and Framber Valdez. Both are out of the Pirates’ price range. Furthermore, the Pirates have enough pitching depth in the organization that they don’t need to sign any starters to a long-term contract.
Interestingly, there are three veteran lefties that the Pirates could reunite with – Tyler Anderson, Martin Perez, and Jose Quintana.
Anderson, 36, made 18 starts for the Pirates in 2021 before being traded to the Seattle Marlins. He then had a 15-5 record and a 2.57 ERA in 30 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers the following year. Anderson spent the past three seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, posting an 18-29 record and a 4.53 ERA in 86 games.
In 2024, Perez started 16 times for the Pirates and was traded to the San Diego Padres. The 34-year-old was limited to 11 games last season with the Chicago White Sox with forearm and shoulder injuries and went 1-6 despite a fine 3.54 ERA.
Quintana, 36, turned his career with the Pirates with 20 starts in 2022 before being dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals. He spent last season with the Milwaukee Brewers, going 11-7 with a 3.96 ERA in 24 starts.
A couple of other lefties who could be potential reclamation projects are Patrick Corbin and Austin Gomber.
Corbin, 36, had a bit of a rebirth with the Texas Rangers last season with a 7-11 record and 4.40 in 31 games. That came after he went 31-63 with a 5.71 ERA in 126 starts over four years from 2021-24 for the Washington Nationals.
At 32, Gomber is the youngest of the five pitchers, and went 0-7 with a 7.49 ERA in 12 starts for the Colorado Rockies last season before being released. That doesn’t offer much encouragement, but maybe getting out of the mile-high altitude would do him some good.