Report: Pirates Aggressive Suitor for Top Staring Pitcher Framber Valdez
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been aggressive in the free agent market offseason in hopes of building a contender for 2026.
Much of the focus has been on improving the lineup. The Pirates signed Ryan O’Hearn, who became the first free agent position player signed to a multi-year deal since Russell Martin over a decade ago. They also made serious pushes to sign Kyle Schwarber and Eugenio Suárez before each player landed eleswhere.
But the Pirates’ latest top free agent pursuit isn’t a bat. Instead, it’s an established left-handed starting pitcher.
The Pirates have emerged as an “aggressive suitor” for two-time All-Star and 2022 World Series champion Framber Valdez, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
Valdez, 32, has spent his entire eight-year career with the Houston Astros. The left-hander is 81-52 in his career with a 3.36 ERA across 188 appearances/166 starts. Valdez was an All-Star in back-to-back seasons from 2022-23, has received Cy Young votes four times (2020, 2022-24) and MVP votes twice (2022, 2024).
This past season with the Astros, Valdez went 13-11 with a 3.66 ERA in 31 starts and threw a pair of complete games. He totaled 192 innings, allowed 171 hits, walked 68 and struck out 187.
Valdez has proven to be extremely durable. Since the start of the 2022 season, his 767.2 innings are second to only Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants and his 121 starts are second among left-handers behind only Patrick Corbin.
There’s an obvious connection between Valdez and Pittsburgh. New Pirates pitching coach Bill Murphy was hired this offseason after spending the past five seasons on Houston’s big-league staff.
Rosenthal suggests Valdez will sign a shorter-term deal with opt-outs with his new team. The Pirates are looking to add to their starting rotation after trading right-handers Johan Oviedo and Mike Burrows earlier this offseason.
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i would be all for this. Sign him and trade Keller (and some others) for a good hitting 3B or SS.
Opt outs might be the way to get it done. I still hedge at the character issues. What he did to his catcher last September is terrible. It would need to be addressed right up front. But wow, drop him in that rotation and Triolo can play third l don’t care.