Pittsburgh Pirates: The New Version of Trevor Cahill

The Pittsburgh Pirates continued to add to their roster yesterday, signing a veteran right-handed pitcher to a one year deal.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have traded away talent this winter, starting with Josh Bell on Christmas Eve as they then dealt Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon within a week of each other in January.  The goal was to simply add as much talent to the farm system that they could.  Since those moves there was speculation that starters Chad Kuhl or Steven Brault could be traded along with second baseman Adam Frazier.

The Pirates didn’t make any other deals and instead signed Wilmer Difo, Brian Goodwin, Tyler Anderson, and Todd Frazier to minor league deals and traded cash considerations for Dustin Fowler.  At the time, Ben Cherington mentioned the team had “oars in the water” and the club was looking to add.  They have continued to add by signing right-handed pitcher Trevor Cahill to a one-year deal, with the 40-man move still needing to be announced.

Cahill has been known as a sinker ball pitcher most of his career.  He has a career 4.20 ERA, 17.8 percent strikeout rate, 9.5 percent walk rate, and 54 percent groundball rate.  But Ben Cherington hasn’t looked to acquire that type of pitcher.  Last season, Cahill was a different pitcher.

Used initially as an opener style pitcher who didn’t need to provide length, the veteran ended the year in the Giants bullpen.  He posted a 3.24 ERA and 4.19 FIP but the other stuff was more interesting.  Not ever being a pitcher known for command, Cahill walked a career high 13.2 percent of batters but it came with a career high strikeout rate of 29.2 percent (previous career high was 23.2 percent) and a career low ground ball rate (33.3 percent).

Cahill threw his sinker a career low rate (26.7 percent) and upped his changeup (29.1 percent) and his curveball (23 percent) to career highs.  The curveball spins at 2982 RPM, which is well above league average and something it seems this front office cares about.  That pitch got a whiff 43.8 percent of the time last year.  Cahill has evolved from a ground ball pitcher to a high spin curveball pitcher.

While in the past, the Pirates had interest in Cahill for being that groundball specialist, he is no longer that.  Ben Cherington and company have looked more at the spin rates of pitchers and Cahill has a plus curve.  The righty will likely slot into the bullpen and could make the closer competition race more intriguing.   It’s a different Cahill and one that better fits what the front office views as important.