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Pittsburgh Pirates Free Agent Friday – Starting Pitching

By Jason Rollison

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Buehrle (56) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports” width=”590″ height=”415″ /> Oct 2, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Maffrk Bueffhrle (56) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

It could take all day with multiple long posts to cover other potential targets. Instead let’s look at a few more names in ‘Quick Hit’ fashion

Mark Buehlre – Could go the A.J. Burnett route and prolong his career with Pittsburgh. Coming off of a 15 win season at age 36; Good groundball rates and has kept his control with only 1.5 BB/9 last year. His reputation and age likely will price him out of Pittsburgh’s plans.

Marco Estrada – Another Blue Jays pitcher who finally put it all together in 2015, including good showings in the postseason. Estrada is a hot name at the moment, but has very low groundball rates and no track record to speak of to warrant a long-term contract. Pirates are familiar with him through his time with the Brewers, but are unlikely to pay his desired price tag.

Brett Anderson – a lefty from the Dodgers, Anderson has elite groundball rates (66.3% in 2015) that would make him an excellent fit for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Anderson’s SO/W and control are nothing to write home about, but that groundball rate would make him very attractive to the club.

Jeff Samardzija – did Samardzija do enough in Chicago last year to drastically lower his market value? It’s hard to imagine any team giving Samardzjia a long-term deal with his career 4.09 ERA and 3.0 BB/9 rate. He may be seeking a deal to re-establish his value, and the NL Central is certainly a familiar destination.

EDIT:  Scott Kazmir. How could I forget Scott Kazmir in this list? The 11-year veteran is still just 31 years old despite all that time in the bigs. Of course, that time includes practically two seasons lost to injury. Kazmir has shown to regain his durability while posting good performances over the last few years. 2015 was not kind to Kazmir after being traded to Houston, and his career numbers across the board (3.96 ERA, 2.34 SO/W, and 3.6 BB/9) could conspire to bring his name-brand value down. If it is brought down far enough to the Pirates’ ideas of his value is another question entirely.

Did we miss a name? Disagree with any of our assessments? Please sound off in the comments or let us know on Twitter!

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Next: The Elephant in the Pittsburgh Pirates War Room

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