The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed what the team hopes is this years Francisco Liriano, agreeing to a one year, $5 million contract with RHP Edinson Volquez. The deal was first reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.
Volquez went 9-12 with a 5.71 ERA in 32 starts (170.1 IP) for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in 2013. Volquez averaged 92.5 mph on his fastball in 2013.
Volquez gets strikeouts (8.42 K/9 ratio) and groundouts (48.1% career GB rate) but he walks a lot of batters and has for his career. Volquez has a career 4.75 BB/9 ratio and was 3rd in the NL with 77 walks last season.