BleacherCoaches.com

If Locke is for sale, he would be on the shelf for a while. He's not in the neighborhood of Wilson and Watson.

I just looked up volquez career numbers... I hope they have a buyout if he don't make the trip north from Florida . He walks a ton of batters... 105 a couple years ago.. Ouch

Just like Burnett and Liriano did. Hopefully Searage can straighten Volquez out like he did those two!

Wouldn't that be expecting lightning to strike in the same place sveral times in a row? I don't expect much from him. Arroyo would have been a better p/up.

I don't think the Pirates are expecting a ton from the guy either.


As I said, they know what they have in Cole,Liriano, and Morton. They know they have a horse in AAA, but try don't know the health of Wandy. If Wandy is healthy there is your 5 down the stretch, and Burnett can't be ruled out just yet.


I look at Volquez as a Jeff Karstens type role, he's experienced if you need him.

BUT if Searage can get his ERA under 4 and have him win 12 games, Searage should be up for sainthood.

His stuff has never been an issue, his problem is command. Searage has excelled at this, so I wouldn't consider it that much of a reach. Best case, he is a solid number 2 or 3. Worst case, he is Jonathan Sanchez. It's worth the gamble IMO. Plus he is much cheaper than Arroyo, who is nothing more than a back end of the rotation guy.

Volquez is the same risk Liriano was a year ago. It's totally worth it for the Pirates. They don't like to spend big money for a lot years. If you want to be successful without spending a lot of money, you have to spend some money on high risk guys for a short term contract. It seems like the Pirates finally understand what they need to do to contend. This is another big signing for them.

Bucs signed 7 to minor league contracts. 2 that stick out are resigning of Kyle McPhereson and Schlereth... The son of former Bronco Mark Schlereth and Espn personality...the younger was the Dbacks top pick in 2008

Agree Volquez is worth a gamble, but 5 mill/year is an extremely risky gamble.

That amount of money almost guarantees he will, at the very least, have a spot on the openning day roster if not a spot in the starting rotation. Even if he completely flops in the spring training there is no way the FO eats a 5 Million dollar contract.

How does that play out if Rodriquez, Cole, Morton, and Liriano are all healthy and Locke returns to his pre all-star game self out of spring training? Does Volquez become an expensive long reliever? Sanchez was only signed for 1.3 mill and Liriano's contract after it was renegotiated due to him breaking his arm was only around 1 mill. Those are significantly less risky contracts than 5 mill per year.