Pirates Join Bidding For Framber Valdez

The Pirates have emerged as a surprise entrant in the Framber Valdez market, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, who calls the Bucs “one of the most aggressive clubs” in their pursuit of the star left-hander. Valdez rejected a qualifying offer from the Astros at the start of the offseason and would cost the Pirates their third-highest selection in the 2026 draft if a deal were to come together.

It’s an unexpected development that seems illogical at first blush, given the team’s already enviable stock of starting pitching and need to bolster the lineup. But adding Valdez to the mix could make sense, as it’d allow Pittsburgh to further dip into its supply of up-and-coming rotation arms and leverage that depth to acquire another bat.

Trade targets have thinned out as the offseason has worn on, but the Pirates could always try to engage with the D-backs on Ketel Marte, the Red Sox on Jarren Duran (or Wilyer Abreu), or the Nationals on CJ Abrams, speculatively speaking. There are surely some other names who’d be available if the Pirates, depending on which young arms the Pirates were to make available. Paul Skenes, of course, is wholly off limits. General manager Ben Cherington plainly said as much just days into the offseason. But even beyond Skenes, the Pirates have Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler ticketed for big league innings. Jared Jones will be back from UCL surgery this season. Young arms like Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington and Wilber Dotel are on the 40-man roster and close to MLB-ready. Pittsburgh selected high school righty Seth Hernandez with the No. 6 overall pick in last summer’s draft. It’s a deep collection of starters.

Pairing Valdez with Skenes would give the Pirates one of the best one-two punches in the entire game. The 32-year-old lefty has been an iron man in Houston’s rotation in recent years. He’s pitched 767 2/3 innings of 3.21 ERA ball with a 23.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and gargantuan 60% ground-ball rate across the past four seasons. Among qualified starters, only Logan Webb has pitched more innings in that time. Andre Pallante, Clay Holmes and Jose Soriano are the only starters with better ground-ball rates in that same span, and Valdez’s ERA is tied with Seattle’s Bryan Woo for 18th.

Signing Valdez would very likely require the Pirates to put forth the largest contract in franchise history, but they’ve shown a willingness to do that already this winter, reportedly offering Kyle Schwarber $120-125MM over a four-year term. Valdez has been seeking a long-term deal, but the manner in which he’s lingered on the market is a good reminder of the paucity of such contracts for pitchers aged 32 and up. As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there are only three instances of a free agent pitcher 32 or older commanding a five-year deal over the past 15 offseasons: Blake Snell, Jacob deGrom and Zack Greinke. All were former Cy Young winners with even stronger cases than Valdez currently has.

The Pirates currently project for a $95MM payroll in the upcoming season, per RosterResource. That, somewhat remarkably, is only a few million shy of their franchise-record. However, the pursuit of Valdez and unsuccessful bids for Schwarber and slugger Eugenio Suárez demonstrate a clear willingness to push the budget to previously unseen levels.

There’s been speculation about Valdez acquiescing to a shorter-term deal with opt-outs, as we’ve seen from various high-end free agents both this winter and in recent offseasons. It’s not yet clear whether he’s amenable to such a structure, nor is it clear whether Pittsburgh is considering that type of offer or a more conventional multi-year deal to lock Valdez into place for the foreseeable future. The Orioles have been the team most prominently linked to Valdez throughout the winter, but the Blue Jays are still in the mix and he’s been at least loosely connected to the Braves, Giants, Mets and Red Sox in recent weeks.