Sports Magazine

Dunio : Should the Pirates Give Ricky Nolasco a Look-see?

By Kipper @pghsportsforum
They say in baseball you can never have enough starting pitching. To validate that statement, take a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates current situation. Just a week ago, the starting rotation was among the best in baseball. As of today, they've lost Jeanmar Gomez for an unknown period of time and yesterday Wandy Rodriguez left the game with forearm tightness after throwing only 14 pitches.
It appears the Pirates top 3 choices to fill the 2 open spots are Charlie Morton, Garrit Cole, and James McDonald. Unfortunately, all 3 are unproven commodities as they've never completed an entire successful season at the major league level.
So that brings up my next question. The Marlins are rumored to be shopping Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco would be a 4th or 5th guy in the rotation, but that's what the Pirates need right now. Despite Nolasco's 3-6 record with the Marlins this year, he's posting fairly impressive numbers: 3.61 ERA, 1.130 WHIP, 7.4 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, and he's averaged 6.31 innings per start. Over the last 5 seasons, Nolasco has been an innings eater averaging 190 innings per season.

Nolasco is due to make 11.5 mil this year, the final year of his contract in Miami. I'm assuming the Pirates could eat a large chunk of his remaining salary without parting with prospects. Or if they choose, maybe a few mid level prospects could get the deal done with the Marlins picking up a larger chunk of the remaining salary.
Nolasco is not a great starting pitcher, but he's above average, proven, and capable of staying healthy for the rest of the season. As the Pirates continue to strive to stay in contention for the remainder of the season, does it make sense to make a run right now at a proven commodity in Ricky Nolasco?
Attached Images
  • File Type: jpg Ricky Nolasco.jpg (63.1 KB)

Back to Featured Articles on Logo Paperblog

Magazine