Pirates make underwhelming signing at Winter Meetings as fans hope for more

The MLB Winter Meetings have been hectic for many teams, but the Pirates have been pretty quiet. That has changed after Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that the Pirates have finally made a move.

On Tuesday night, they agreed to terms with Elvis Alvarado on a major league split contract for the 2025 season.

With all the comments Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton have made to the press at the Winter Meetings, acknowledging the need to add to the major league roster, this signing is a bit underwhelming as he is a 25-year-old reliever who has yet to make his major league debut. Nonetheless, he's an arm that could make an impact to the team in 2025 as he was added to the 40-man roster.

Pirates make signing at the MLB Winter Meetings, adding Elvias Alvarado

Alvarado is an intriguing athlete who started his career as an outfielder, but transitioned to a pitcher after one season. His arm is electric, as he sits around 98 miles per hour and even tops out in the triple digits. One issue, though, has been his control, and he has walked a lot of batters.

Last season in Triple-A, Alvarado posted an 2.79 ERA across 48 1/3 innings and struck out 71 batters. Opposing hitters batted .193 against him and he walked guys at really high rate of 17.8%, which generated a 1.47 WHIP. Additionally, his FIP sat at 3.84 and he possessed an excellent home run to fly ball ratio of 6.7%.

Alvarado has very good numbers outside of his walks shooting up his WHIP, which could improve with the Pirates. That starts with using his high velocity fastball more effectively. It already has a whiff rate of 39.9% and an expected slugging percentage of .239 against.

On top of that, his slider has a 35.7% whiff rate and a .184 expected slugging percentage against. It also has 33.2 inches of downward movement. These two pitches are actually very dominant, but obviously getting it in the strike zone has been a major issue.

Many fans wanted more out of the first signing from the Winter Meetings, but Alvardo could turn into something special. He will compete for a spot in the bullpen during Spring Training, but could see time in Triple-A as he is on a split contract. There will also be no corresponding move as the Pirates have open spots on the 40 man roster.