The Kansas City Royals have agreed to a two-year contract with right-hander Edinson Volquez that will pay him a total of $20M. The deal is still pending a physical. The Pittsburgh Pirates got great value out of Volquez in 2014, signing him to a one-year, $5M deal. He posted a 3.04 ERA over 192.2 innings, making 31 starts and one relief appearance. That was after posting a 5.71 ERA in 2013 when he split the season between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. The Pirates initially said they had interest in re-signing Volquez this off-season, but those talks died down after they signed Francisco Liriano.
Edinson Volquez Agrees to Deal With Royals
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.