Pittsburgh Pirates: Grading Each 2020 Free Agent Signing

Miguel Del Pozo

Del Pozo’s performance last year with the Los Angeles Angels was pretty bad. Still, compared to his 3.2 innings of work this year, at least he struck out more batters than he walked. Del Pozo was plagued with poor command and control since he debuted this season to fill the gaps left by the various injured Pirate pitchers. Needless to say, he probably won’t be in a Major League uniform the rest of this season.

Hey, Del Pozo never gave up a home run this season. Still… this signing earns an F rating.

Derek Holland

Holland has had some success in a few seasons in his career. Overall, he’s been fairly average and could make any of the bottom-15 teams in the league as a 5th starter/long reliever. He also only signed for $100k and is just two seasons off a successful year with the San Francisco Giants, where he posted a 3.87 FIP in 170+ innings as a starter.

So far this year, Holland has only gone through five starts. He pitched well against Milwaukee, one of the few Pirates wins of the season, allowing just two hits and 2 earned runs through 5.2 innings. He followed that up with another 5.2 inning outing against the Minnesota Twins in which he lost the decision after allowing 4 runs on four hits.

Then he went against the Detroit Tigers. Through 5 innings, Holland found himself on the hook for 9 runs in an 11-5 loss that featured him allowing 13 hits, five of them going the distance. He still managed to strike out six batters, but the damage was already done. He went on to pitch well in his next two outings, but gave up 8 runs in his most recent start. It might be better to keep him in the pen, where he has allowed 3 earned runs while striking out seven in 7 innings of work.

Holland still has time to turn his season around and he signed for $100k. This signing earns a C- rating.