The Pittsburgh Pirates have been more active this offseason than in most years recently. They’ve been trying to sign some top free agents, and while they missed on Kyle Schwarber and Eugenio Suarez, they have added others.

Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn were nice pickups, and they’ve shown interest in Framber Valdez. They’re not done, as they search for another starter and a slugger.

But, in the meantime, as Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, the Pirates are signing former San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox right-handed pitcher Mike Clevinger to a free agent contract.

Pirates to sign former White Sox, Padres righty

“Per release, the Pirates have signed RHP Mike Clevinger to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training,” Beazley reports.

Clevinger is a 35-year-old pitcher who’s been in the Majors since the 2016 season. In his career, across nine years in the big leagues, Clevinger has a 3.55 ERA with 17.3 bWAR.

He was a starter for most of his career, but in 2025, he only appeared as a reliever in eight games for the White Sox. During that stint, he wasn’t very good, posting a 7.94 ERA.

The year prior, also with the White Sox, Clevinger had a 6.75 ERA in four appearances, all of which were starts. It wasn’t a good two-year stretch, but before that, he was a lot better.

While those seasons were far from ideal, Clevinger, in every year before 2024 and after he was a rookie, had a very solid 3.32 ERA across 128 starts and 135 games.

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Clevinger has a great history in the Major Leagues as a starting pitcher, and while he might not be as good as he once was, this is a worthwhile flier.

Every team could use a few depth options, and Clevinger, who has MLB experience and can be a great pitcher, is well worth taking a chance on for the Pirates.

It’s a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training, so the Pirates will get a better idea of how Clevinger fares before the regular season starts.

If he’s good in Spring Training, then they have a great pitcher ready to go. But, if not, then it’s no harm, no foul. He can sit in the minors until he’s needed, as this contract isn’t a super expensive one for the Pirates.

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