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Brent Suter
One of the safest options on the free agent market is Brent Suter. Last season, the soft-tossing lefty owned a 3.38 ERA, 3.44 FIP, and 1.30 WHIP in 69.2 innings. Suter is all about inducing soft contact. He was in the 97th+ percentile of exit velocity (84 MPH), barrel rate (3.3%), and hard-hit rate (26.3%). It also helps that he consistently posts above-average groundball rates and induced grounders at a 46.5% rate last year. This helps make up for his poor 18.8% strikeout rate, and about league-average 8.6% walk rate. Of course, with a lot of soft contact and ground balls, he’s great at limiting home runs, and he clocked in with a 0.39 HR/9.
Suter is the safe option because of how durable he is. Among pitchers who have started less than five games over the last three years, Suter’s 209.1 innings pitched is the fifth most in baseball. He’s a guaranteed 65-70 frames. For a Pirates pitching staff that needs some stability and innings, Suter may be one of the best options, even if he is more of a middle reliever than a high-leverage arm.