The Pittsburgh Pirates were in on the bidding for free agent lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo according to Robert Murray, offering him a two-year contract valued at $8M. However, Jon Heyman broke the news on Wednesday night that the New York Mets are signing Bastardo for $12M over two years.
That shows that the Pirates are still in the market for a lefty reliever, as the current bullpen looks to only have one lefty in Tony Watson. It also shows that they are willing to spend to sign one, though with Bastardo gone, they may choose to go the trade route to acquire a second lefty, as the market for free agent lefties is quite thin now.
The current options for the second lefty includes Kyle Lobstein on the 40-man roster and Robert Zarate, Jim Fuller and Kelvin Marte as non-roster invitees to Spring Training. None of those three NRI players have any Major League experience, and Lobstein has struggled as a starter in his brief big league experience, posting a high BAA and low strikeout rate. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Pirates add a lefty arm before Spring Training next month.
The #Pirates were involved in the bidding for Antonio Bastardo. They offered two-years, $8 million, according to league sources.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 21, 2016
