Pirates/MLB
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to a 2 year – $8 million deal with former San Diego Padres starting pitcher Kevin Correia.
The deal was first reported by Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com.
Correia, 30, went 10-10 last season with a 5.40 ERA. He made 26 starts in 2010 and in late August lost his starting spot in the Padres rotation. In 2009, Correia went 12-9 with a 3.91 ERA, his first season with more than 4 wins.
In 2010, Correia struck out more batters (7.14 K/9) than he did in 2009 (6.45 K/9), however, his walk rate increased from 2.91 BB/9 to 3.97 BB/9. He surrendered 20 home runs and walked 64 batters in 145 innings pitched.
Correia will join the Pirates starting rotation and enter the top-4 with Paul Maholm, James McDonald and Ross Ohlendorf.
The Pirates also have a deal in place with Scott Olsen, who will enter spring training as the favorite for the No. 5 spot.
On the outside looking in is Charlie Morton and 2006 1st round pick Brad Lincoln. Lincoln’s stock has fallen inside the organization. The Pirates are not giving up on him but many are projecting he’s eventually going to become a reliever.
Elsewhere on the free agent front, the Pirates according to contacts were said on Monday to not be in the mix for Jeff Francis who was an early target.
Francis is seeking $3-to-$4 million in incentives on a one year deal that the Pirates had no interest in going. It is also believed Francis was not keen on playing in Pittsburgh despite playing for Clint Hurdle in Colorado.
As we reported last week, the Pirates were not going to be a suitor for Brandon Webb.
On the trade front, Pittsburgh expects to intensifiy their efforts to move Ryan Doumit this week. The asking price is low but there hasn’t been any kind of serious interest to this point.
