Pittsburgh Pirates Free Agent Target: Gio Gonzalez

With the team still in need of one more starting pitcher, could a veteran lefty fill that void for the Pittsburgh Pirates?

In less than two weeks, pitchers and catchers will report to Bradenton and Spring Training 2019 will be underway for the Pittsburgh Pirates. As of now, the Pirates have one of the strongest 1 – 4 of any rotation in the National League. However, the team could still use an upgrade for their final rotation spot.

As Neal Huntington discussed last weekend at Pirate Fest, as of now Jordan Lyles is ‘plan A’ for the final rotation spot. Lyles, as he proved last season, however, is better suited for the bullpen. While he is the clubhouse leader to be the fifth starting pitcher, Huntington’s comments last weekend certainly left the door open for the Pirates to add another starter.

On Friday, I wrote about how the Pirates should make a splash in free agency by signing 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel. While signing Keuchel seems unlikely due to the Pirates’ tight budget, there is another veteran lefty on the free agent market that could improve the Pirate rotation at a much cheaper price. That lefty is Gio Gonzalez.

The 33-year-old Gonzalez is an 11-year MLB veteran. In 2018 Gonzalez split the season between the Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers. With these two clubs, Gonzalez posted a 4.21 ERA, 4.16 FIP, and a 2.0 fWAR. While this was his ninth consecutive season with a fWAR of at least 2.0, it broke a streak of eight consecutive seasons with a fWAR of at least 3.0.

11 seasons and 1,184 innings into his MLB career Gonzalez has proven to be a solid, reliable starting pitcher. While he is no longer the top of the rotation arm he once was in the early and middle parts of the decade, he is still a strong middle of the rotation arm. He presents a major upgrade over Lyles, or any of the other internal options, for the final spot in the Pirate starting rotation.

Gonzalez could also benefit from pitching his home games at PNC Park. Being a lefty at PNC Park would be beneficial to Gonzalez, and his 47.2% career groundball rate would work in his favor as well. His lifetime 22.6% strikeout rate has to entice the Bucs, too.

Also, odds are, Gonzalez would not come with a high price tag. He is now 33 and coming off his worst season since 2009. These two factors combined with him still being unsigned on February 2nd would indicate that some teams may be leery of giving Gonzalez a big contract.

It would not be unreasonable to expect a one or two year deal worth $8-10 million per season to be enough to land Gonzalez. This is something that the Pirates could easily afford, too. Adding Gonzalez on such a deal would only raise the Pirate payroll to somewhere in the $80-82 million range. This would remain well below the MLB average, as well as being below last season’s payroll.

There is also reason to believe the Pirates could be interested in Gonzalez as he is a pitcher the team has been tied to in the past. During the 2016 MLB Winter Meetings, the team discussed a potential Andrew McCutchen trade at length with the Washington Nationals. Who was one of the names that constantly came up in talks? None other than Gonzalez.

Adding Gio Gonzalez to a starting rotation that includes Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor Williams, and Joe Musgrove would give the Pittsburgh Pirates one of the deepest starting rotations in the NL. It would also add to the rotation’s depth by allowing Lyles to move to the bullpen, and it could help to ease the feeling to rush top prospect Mitch Keller to the MLB level. An addition of Gonzalez would make the Pirate rotation formidable enough to make the team a legitimate postseason contender in 2019.