Pirates sign Lisalverto Bonilla, DFA Locke
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Tuesday they've signed free-agent right-hander Lisalverto Bonilla to a one-year contract. To make room on the 40-man roster, the club designated pitcher Jeff Locke for assignment.
The transaction ends Locke's up-and-down six-year tenure in the Steel City, that included an All-Star appearance in the team's renaissance year of 2013, but ended with a downturn this past season that saw him lose his rotation spot.
"When the player starts making real money, you have to start looking for real production," general manager Neal Huntington told Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "Jeff worked hard and gave us some really good starts, probably more than he was given credit for. But, the challenge for him was consistency."
A former second-round pick of the Pirates, Locke's best year came during that 2013 campaign when he posted a 3.50 ERA and struck out 125 batters over 30 starts. Since then, his numbers have ballooned progressively; the 29-year-old posted a career-worst 5.44 ERA in 2016 while striking out just 73 hitters to 44 walks and allowing 10.7 hits per nine innings. He was removed from Pittsburgh's rotation in July and made sparing appearances in relief thereafter.
Locke was a possible candidate to be non-tendered prior to entering his second year of arbitration. He made $3.25 million in 2016, and was projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $4.2 million in 2017.
Bonilla, 26, has pitched in just five big-league games, all of them coming with the Texas Rangers in 2014; he posted a 3.05 ERA and struck out 17 hitters over that span.
The right-hander missed all of 2015 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and spent this past year in the Los Angeles Dodgers' system, where he compiled a 3.97 ERA and averaged 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings across 31 appearances - 13 of them starts - split between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City.