4 last-minute free agent pitchers Pirates can pursue after Andrew Heaney signing

The offseason is now officially over. The first spring training games have begun, but just like in many recent years, some notable free agents are still lingering on the market. It took until just last week for Alex Bregman, MLB Trade Rumors’ third-best free agent, to finally sign.

The Pittsburgh Pirates could take advantage of this inaction and round out their roster. Most of their depth chart is set as we head into spring training 2025, but they could still add some pitchers of note, either as depth or to help put the finishing touches on their roster before the spring gets into full swing. 

4 last-minute additions Pirates could make in free agency

Why the Pirates signed Andrew Heaney

Any good team the Pirates throw together over the next few years is going to be built around their rotation. So why not double down and make sure they have the depth and effectiveness to carry the roster? One of the best starting pitchers still lingering on the free agent market is veteran lefty Andrew Heaney. If there is one constant about the Pirates, it’s Ben Cherington’s affinity for veteran left-handers.

That's exactly why the Pirates signed Heaney on Thursday night.

Let’s first start with the positives. Heaney put up a respectable 4.28 ERA, 4.04 FIP, and 1.25 WHIP last season. His 22.9% strikeout rate sat around league average, and he put up a career-low 5.9% walk rate. ERA estimators also pinned him as a solid starter with a 3.95 SIERA and 4.18 xFIP across 160 frames.

But there were negatives to his game. Heaney allowed home runs at a 1.29-per-9 pace. Batters hit the southpaw for an 89.6 MPH exit velocity (27th percentile) and 8.3% barrel percentage (37th percentile). After putting up 103 Stuff+ from 2021 through 2023, Heaney saw that drop to just 95 in 2024. His velocity has steadily ticked down every year since 2022, going from 93 MPH, to 92.5 MPH, and then 91.8 MPH.

Heaney will slot nicely into the back of the Pirates’ rotation. It will also let them limit Johan Oviedo’s innings, who is coming off of Tommy John surgery. Heaney isn’t a complete stranger to pitching out of the bullpen, either, having made 15 appearances as a reliever from 2021 through 2023. Once the Pirates call up some of their top prospects, Heaney could transition to the 'pen as well. 

Dillon Tate

Dillon Tate was once a top prospect, and has been involved in some high-profile trades throughout his career. Before even making his MLB debut, Tate was traded twice: once from the Texas Rangers to the New York Yankees for Carlos Beltran in 2016, and again in 2018, when he was shipped from the Yankees to the Baltimore Orioles for Zack Britton.

The Orioles are the team with which he has spent most of his MLB career, which started in 2019. After missing 2023 due to elbow and forearm injuries, Tate returned to the mound in 2024. In total, he pitched 36.2 innings out of the pen for the O’s and Toronto Blue Jays, working to a 4.66 ERA and 1.47 WHIP, albeit with a 3.71 FIP. Tate only struck out 16.5% of his opponents, but had an above-average 7.3% walk rate and 0.49 HR/9 ratio. 

The right-hander also had some other solid numbers under the hood. He was good at limiting opponents when it came to hard contact, inducing an 87.5 MPH exit velocity and 5% barrel rate. Despite both nearly matching his career averages, Tate’s batting average on balls in play was .336, compared to .271 for his career. While he missed all of 2023 due to injury, his stuff did not regress. Stuff+ still had him at 105 last year, the same number it pinned him at in 2022 when he had a 3.05 ERA, 3.43 FIP, and 0.99 WHIP in 73.2 IP. However, ERA estimators were mixed on his performance. Tate had a 3.83 xERA and 4.16 SIERA, but a 4.45 xFIP.

2024 was an up-and-down season for Tate, but he is still looking for a contract for 2025. It might only take a minor-league deal for the Pirates to sign the reliever. The Pirates could add Tate to their non-roster invitee list now and let him compete for a bullpen spot during spring training. He still has decent stuff that could help him rebound after not pitching in 2023 and putting up mixed numbers in 2024.

Kyle Finnegan

One of the more surprising non-tenders from this offseason was Kyle Finnegan. The right-hander was an All-Star for the Washington Nationals, and recorded 38 saves in 2024 while putting up some respectable numbers. However, after a horrible stretch to end the campaign, the Nats decided to move on from the closer and his elevated salary, and he still lingers on the free agent market.

Finngan’s first 42.2 innings of the year saw him work to a 2.32 ERA, 3.92 FIP, and 0.98 WHIP. He struck out 26% of his opponents with a roughly league average 8.3% walk rate and 1.27 HR/9. Some of these numbers are a tad inflated as well. He allowed two home runs and three earned runs in just his second game of the year. After that game, he put up a 1.76 ERA, 3.29 FIP, and 0.93 WHIP over his next 41.1 IP. That also includes a 90.8 MPH exit velocity and a 5.8% barrel rate.

However, Finnegan ended the season on a very poor note. His final 21 innings yielded a 6.43 ERA, 4.93 FIP, and 2.05 WHIP. Finnegan’s walk rate ballooned to 9.8%, while his strikeout rate dipped to just 15.7%. Home runs remained an issue (1.27 HR/9). Although he still had an above-average 6.6% barrel percentage, he was knocked around the yard for a 92.5 MPH exit velocity. 

Finnegan’s batting average on balls in play was all over the place. During the stretch where he had a sub-2.00 ERA, his BABIP was just .210. Then, when he struggled to end the season, he had a .410 BABIP. Ultimately, these extremes combined for a much more stable .292 BABIP, compared to his career average of .290. 

Finnegan’s stuff isn’t the issue. He ended the year with a 104 Stuff+ rating. Even when he struggled badly from late July through the end of the season, Stuff+ still pinned him at 104.

Even with his poor performance to end the 2024 campaign, it’s surprising to see Finnegan still on the free agent market. This could be a very good buy-low opportunity for the Pirates to add a reliever to round out the bullpen.

David Robertson

David Robertson was one of just four free agents this offseason that was going into their age-40 season. However, he may have been the best among those four. He’s been one of the best late-inning arms in the game dating back to his first full big league season in 2009 with the World Series-winning New York Yankees. 2024 was one of his best years yet.

Robertson pitched to the tune of a 3.00 ERA, 2.65 FIP, and 1.11 WHIP across 72 innings of work. He struck out about a third of opponents, with a 33.4% K%, and limited home runs well with an 0.63 HR/9 rate. His 88.7 MPH exit velocity was about league average and was in the 53rd percentile of pitchers, but his 5.5% barrel percentage was even better, placing within the 85th percentile. Walks were his only below-average peripheral, but 9.1% is still a very manageable rate.

Robertson still had a sub-3.00 xFIP (2.88) and SIERA (2.69), the first time he has accomplished that in a full season since 2018. Stuff+ still put him at a quality 109 mark. 2024 was also the first year since 2017 in which he struck out at least one third of batters. He also set a career-high in innings pitched, as it was the first time he'd ever surpassed more than 70 frames in a season.

Sure, Robertson isn’t a young gun. He turns 40 on April 9, and the Pirates have only had three pitchers in their age 40-or-older season pitch for them in the last 25 seasons. But Robertson has consistently been one of baseball’s most effective relievers in parts of 16 seasons. He showed no signs of age in 2024, and, if anything, displayed there’s still a decent amount of gas left in the tank. Given that spring training is now starting, he may have to settle for less than what he signed for last season ($10 million).

Spencer Turnbull

Kyle Finnegan and David Robertson would be additions the Pirates would make if they wanted to make the later innings more secure. Meanwhile, Andrew Heaney is an option for if the Pirates wanted to finalize the rotation. A middle ground between those options is Spencer Turnbull, a pitcher who can both throw some innings as a reliever and make a start when he needs to.

Turnbull is coming off a season where he had a 2.65 ERA, 3.85 FIP, and 1.05 WHIP for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2024. He struck out over a quarter of his opponents, with a 26.1% K%, as well as an 87.8 MPH exit velocity (top 76th percentile) and a 7.2% barrel rate (61st percentile). This helped him keep up an 0.99 HR/9 rate - but if Turnbull keeps up a similar exit velo and barrel rate in 2025, he could improve in this department as well, given a move out of Citizens Bank Park would put him in a much less homer-friendly environment. Turnbull’s 9% walk rate was about the only big negative to his game, but even that is manageable. Turnbull’s stuff can play in either a relief or starter role, as he had a 101 Stuff+ mark last season.

These numbers are great, but there are some things to note first. Turnbull missed the second half of the season after tossing 54.1 innings in the first half (17 appearances, seven games started). It’s also not the first time he has suffered a major injury. He missed a large chunk of 2021 and all of 2022 due to Tommy John surgery. Even in 2023, he only tossed 31 frames.

Turnbull’s pristine ERA isn’t completely empty, but is also not 100% sustainable. He had a .233 batting average on balls in play, significantly lower than his career average of .300. The right-hander put up a 3.80 xFIP and 3.67 SIERA, both of which were still above average, but over a run greater than his bottom line ERA.

Still, Turnbull would not be a bad addition to the Pirates’ pitching staff. He would give them a much-needed flexible arm. A similar pitcher to compare him to is another swingman, Jakob Junis, who signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract with the Cleveland Guardians last week. He had some very comparable numbers to Turnbull, is around the same age, and fills a similar role. But the Pirates might even be able to land Turnbull for cheaper, given the spring training start date and the fact he missed all games after July.