The Pirates announced the acquisition of left-hander and cash considerations from the Braves. Atlanta receives a player to be named later or cash in return. The move comes just two days after Atlanta landed Gonzales as part of with the Mariners, yet it was that Gonzales would be quickly flipped to another team. Pittsburgh will presumably now be Gonzales final landing spot of the offseason, as the southpaw brings some experience to a Pirates team sorely in need of rotation help. Beyond ace , the Bucs projected starting staff is thin on MLB service time and lacking in quality results at the big league level. , , , and were lined up as the next four in the rotation, as will mi s all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and and wont be options until closer to midseason due to TJ procedures of their own from last April. 2023 first overall draft pick is expected to be on a fast track to the big leagues as early as next season, yet with only 6 2/3 pro innings on his resume, it is too early to a sume Skenes is a lock for his MLB debut in 2024. Corey Dickerson Jersey This isnt to say that Gonzales (who turns 32 in February) is nece sarily a clear-cut upgrade for the Buccos, as he is trying to bounce back from e sentially a lost season. Gonzales 2023 campaign was cut short by a forearm strain in May, and he had struggled to a 5.22 ERA over 50 innings and 10 starts for Seattle before going on the injured list. While the forearm problem was a painful new wrinkle to the proceedings, the overall dip in form wasnt a total surprise, given how Gonzales has been outperforming his peripheral numbers for years. Gonzales posted a 3.94 ERA over 765 2/3 innings for the Mariners from 2018-22, with a more unflattering 4.64 SIERA reflecting his lack of strikeouts. Though Gonzales isnt a hard thrower and he doesnt mi s many bats, he still achieved succe s with a recipe of solid control and limiting hard contact. Despite the lack of velocity, Gonzales four-seamer was quietly one of the more effective pitches in baseball before 2022, when it suddenly dropped into being a below-average offering. If Gonzales can stay healthy and get back to his pre-2023 results, that alone represents a nice boost for the Pirates staff. It might help that the lefty is leaving Seattle for another pretty pitcher-friendly locale in PNC Park, as home runs also became an increasing problem for Gonzales in 2021-22. 2024 is the last guaranteed season of the four-year, $30MM extension that Gonzales signed with the Mariners prior to the 2020 campaign, and the deal also contains a $15MM club option for 2025 with no buyout. Since Gonzales received a $250K a signment bonus for being traded from the Mariners, the $4.5MM Seattle included in the trade package to Atlanta left $7.75MM remaining in owed salary to the left-hander. The Braves have eaten part of that portion to facilitate this next deal with Pittsburgh, only increasing Gonzales affordable nature no small matter for a Pirates team that is always looking to keep its spending in check. Though the Bucs are their modest payroll by some extent, obtaining Gonzales for le s than $7.75MM allows the club to fill one rotation hole without taking up much of whatever spending capacity GM Ben Cherington has been allotted this winter. Since on the Pirates radar, it could be that Pittsburgh will addre s its rotation with veterans on short-term deals, hoping that at least one reclamation project like Gonzales or Flaherty can bounce back to become solid starter. From Atlantas perspective, taking on the contracts of Gonzales and was the price nece sary to obtain from the Mariners. Whites injury history makes him more or le s immovable outside of a total salary dump, yet Gonzales history as a decently effective and durable starter prior to 2022 made him a better candidate to be flipped, considering the league-wide need for pitching depth. The Braves are known to be looking for higher-tier pitching upgrades themselves, after mi sing out on earlier in the offseason. first reported the Pirates were acquiring Gonzales and cash for a player to be named later. Sam Clay Jersey