Pittsburgh Pirates Free Agent Target: Pitcher Trevor Cahill

The Pittsburgh Pirates could use some starting pitching help after trading Joe Musgrove and one potential target could be veteran pitcher Trevor Cahill.

Now that the Pittsburgh Pirates have dealt Joe Musgrove, they will likely be on the lookout for some starting pitching help. Their rotation depth becomes even shallower if they trade lefty Steven Brault. Right now, the only for sure locks in the rotation are Mitch Keller, Jameson Taillon. If the Bucs go looking for some starting pitching help, they should look into veteran right-hander Trevor Cahill.

Cahill will be entering his 13th MLB season in 2021. It will also be his age-33 season as he turns 33 on March 1st. Cahill has been roughly a league average pitcher throughout his career having a 4.20 ERA, 4.40 FIP and 1.36 WHIP in 1470.2 innings. Overall he has a 98 ERA+ and 108 FIP-. After being primarily a starter throughout the first five years of his career, he’s served mainly as a swingman since 2014.

Last year, the veteran pitched for the San Francisco Giants posting a 3.24 ERA, 4.19 FIP and 1.20 WHIP in 25 innings. Cahill pitched in 11 total games, six of which were starts. Cahill put up a strong 29.2% strikeout rate and only had a 1.08 HR/9, but he walked batters at a 13.2% rate. He also posted a decent 3.92 DRA.

Cahill was above average in terms of exit velocity as opponents were only able to manage 87.5 MPH off the bat which was in the top 64th percentile. He also had an above average hard hit rate at 35.6% or in the top 58th percentile. Cahill didn’t induce many ground balls in 2020 with a ground ball rate of just 33.3%, but he has a career 54% mark, which would pair well with his above average exit velocity and hard hit rate.

Overall, he was about average in terms of xERA at 4.21 and xwOBA at .304. Both of these sat at the 51st percentile. In terms of other expected stats, he kept opponents to a .218 xBA or in the top 72nd percentile and .380 xSLG or in the top 59th percentile.

Thhere are a few downsides to Cahill, however.

xFIP pegged the right hander with a 4.48 mark while having a 4.38 SIERA. While those aren’t awful numbers considering he had a 101 xFIP-, they are a decent bit ahead of his actual ERA for the season. Cahill has also been inconsistent. He’s had solid seasons like in 2020 and 2018, but he also struggled heavily in 2019 with the Los Angeles Angels. In his lone season with the Halos, Cahill had a 5.98 ERA, 6.13 FIP, surrendered 25 home runs in just 102.1 innings and had a -0.8 fWAR.

Still, any depth to the starting rotation should be welcomed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cahill has been inconsistent, but when he’s on, he gives you a handful of solid outings. Notably, he posted the highest curveball spin rate of his career in 2020 at 2982 RPM, which was in the top 96th percentile. Given what Oscar Marin has been able to do with pitchers with high spin rates, he could avoid that down year in 2021. He was only signed to a minor league deal last offseason and even though he pitched well with the Giants he shouldn’t cost much more than what he was given in 2020.