Francisco Liriano will remain in the Steel City.
Liriano and the Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to a three-year, $39 million contract, a source told MLB Daily Rumors’ Robert Murray. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman has since confirmed the deal.
Liriano spent the last two seasons in Pittsburgh, where he revitalized a career that briefly went off the tracks. The 31-year-old left-hander went 23-18 with a 3.20 ERA over 55 starts in that span.
Liriano isn’t exactly an innings eater, which caps his value to some extent. He tossed just 161 innings over 26 starts in 2013 and only 162 1/3 innings over 29 starts in 2014. The veteran southpaw has excellent strikeout ability, though.
Liriano and Ervin Santana were considered the top second-tier free-agent starters available — a notch below Jon Lester, Max Scherzer and James Shields — so perhaps some dominoes will begin to fall.
Thumbnail photo via Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports Images
