The once dominant Liriano has posted ERA's of over five in each of the last two seasons and has had periodic problems with his control with an average of 5 walks per nine innings.
Liriano still has strong stuff though with a 2011 no hitter to speak of his arsenal.
Liriano's slider remains his out pitch and he throws hard enough (low to mid 90's) to avoid the label of finesse' pitcher.
The addition of Liriano likely sets the Pirate rotation for the first half of the 2013 season with the possibility of Gerrit Cole joining for the second half,assuming his AAA performance is strong.
The rotation (in no particular slot in the rotation) looks like Liriano,Wandy Rodriguez,A.J. Burnett,James McDonald and the winner of a Jeff Locke vs Kyle McPherson battle for the final spot.
This has the potential to be the most solid rotation that the Pirates have had in a while,so on that point,Liriano (if even average) is an upgrade (I think) over the Kevin Correia types that the Pirates have usually signed to plug into their rotation.
I can see this working out for the Pirates,but I can also see this being another version of the last off seasons lefthanded signing in Eric Bedard,which proved to be a failure,but a Liriano flop would be worse as the Bedard deal was one year as compared to the two year contract signed with Liriano,although the contract would not be a budget buster.
It is a risk,but I do not see Pittsburgh from having much choice.
As sad as it sounds for those of us in the real world,Seven million dollars does not buy sure things on the free agent market,seven million buys players looking for new scenery,players with injuries or less talented players getting the most of what they have to offer.
It is a risk,but one that I would rather take than an easier to predict pitcher that has an extremely limited upside....
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