#DRAWING PARALLELS FREE#

But Rodriguez was up-and-down, McDonald would only make six starts, pitching to a 5.76 ERA, before landing on the IL with shoulder issues, and wouldn’t make another start for the rest of the year. Burnett had pitched as expected, and Locke had started to break out. So to open the year, the Pirates had Burnett and Rodriguez, with the hopes McDonald could rebound, the hope that left-hander Jeff Locke could breakout after struggling heavily in his first 51.2 MLB innings (5.82 ERA/5.19 FIP), and both Jeanmar Gomez and Jonathan Sanchez could hold the fort down until Liriano could return, who himself was a question mark.īy the end of April, the Pirates’ starting rotation was looking pretty bleak. He had a 5.18 ERA, 4.88 FIP, and 1.51 WHIP through his first 206.2 MLB innings. The other addition, Jeanmar Gomez, had pitched the last three years as an up-and-down starter/reliever for Cleveland. While he had some solid seasons with the SF Giants, he had an ERA over 8.00 and a FIP over 6.50 in 2012 with the Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies. The Pirates, still in need of starting pitching depth, then signed Jonathan Sanchez in February. He hurt himself in a way only a Pirates player could injury themselves: breaking his non-throwing hand on Christmas trying to make his kids think Santa was coming down the chimney. On top of that, Liriano wouldn’t even pitch until May. His ERA+ of 78 indicated he was 23% worse than the league-average pitcher at limiting earned runs. Liriano had an ERA over 5.00 in three of the last four seasons. The Pirates signed one starting pitcher to a Major League deal, Francisco Liriano. The additions the Pirates made that off-season also didn’t inspire too much confidence.

#DRAWING PARALLELS FREE#

Not to mention, Jeff Karstens was not guaranteed to even throw a ball in 2013, and they had lost Kevin Correia to the Minnesota Twins in free agency. One of the pitchers the Pirates’ had relied on for the last few years, Charlie Morton, had undergone Tommy John surgery in early April of 2012 and wasn’t projected to return until sometime in June of 2013.

His ERA after the All-Star break was over 7.50. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez were the Pirates’ only ‘sure bets.’ James McDonald struggled so badly in the second half of the 2012 season that he was a major question mark going into the year. But at the start of the 2013 season, that’s not exactly how it looked.Īt the time, A.J. Louis Cardinals signing some pitchers, it’s thrown gasoline on the fire that is Pirates fans panicking.īut you can draw a handful of parallels to the Pirates’ starting rotation now and from their 2013 season, one of the most memorable Pirates teams in the franchise’s history and one that boasted a solid starting pitching staff by the end of the year. Mitch Keller is about the only ‘sure bet’ to be in the rotation, with multiple young pitchers who have talent but have had trouble putting it all together, or making the next step. Losing Johan Oviedo to Tommy John surgery leaves a lot of uncertainty about the starting rotation. There’s been a lot of panic among fans, at least on social media, about the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting pitching staff. You can draw a handful of different parallels to the Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitching staff early in the 2013 season and their current pitching staff

Drawing parallels