Damn, I can barely keep up with all this activity.
The Pirates have reached a deal with righty reliever Brandon Maurer.
It’s safe to assume a spring training invite is included.
Maurer is a hard-throwing, perennially disappointing pitcher with a mid-90s fastball and some swing-and-miss ability, but a career 5.36 ERA and 4.25 xFIP over 289 major league games. He got into 37 games with the Royals in 2018 and it was pretty brutal: 7.76 ERA, 5.73 xFIP and 7.2 BB/9. He averaged over 96 mph on his fastball, but got hit mighty hard, including two gopher balls per nine innings.