Former Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano signed with the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday. While there had not been much reported interest in the Pirates retaining Liriano, his departure is a blow to a bullpen that is short on left-handers and veterans.
Liriano will make $1.5 million guaranteed with an additional $1.25 million available in incentives on the one year deal. Jon Heyman was the first to report the deal was close, and Robert Murray was the first with contract details.
Sources: #Phillies in agreement with free-agent pitcher Francisco Liriano on a minor-league deal. $1.5 million with $1.25 million in incentives. @JonHeyman first said close.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 22, 2020
Liriano was one of the Pirates' most reliable relief pitchers last season, pitching to a 3.47 ERA with 63 strikeouts over 70 innings. He and the club reunited last winter when he signed a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training. Liriano earned a spot on the opening day roster and eventually worked his way to the back of the bullpen, routinely pitching in the seventh or eighth inning.
At the moment, the backend of the Pirates' bullpen is Keone Kela as the presumed closer with Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez serving as his set-up men.
The Pirates are at a shortage of left-handed pitching at the moment. The only two southpaws currently on the 40-man roster are Steven Brault, who will go to spring training competing for a rotation spot, and Sam Howard, who was claimed off waivers in October. They will also bring Williams Jerez, Nik Turley and Miguel Del Pozo, all of whom have major league experience as relievers, and prospect Blake Weiman to spring training as non-roster invitees.
The Phillies were apparently not satisfied with signing just one former Pirates Wednesday, so they also inked Neil Walker to a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training.
Per source, INF Neil Walker has agreed to a minor league deal with the Phillies. He will be in big-league camp.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 22, 2020
While Walker was still a very productive player in 2016 and 2017, his first two years after being traded by the Pirates, he has regressed to being a slightly better than replacement level player the past two seasons. He slashed .261/.344/.395 with eight home runs, 38 RBI and 0.7 WAR with the Marlins last year.
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