Searage: Glad To Have Liriano Return In 2015
PITTSBURGH (KDKA 93-7 The Fan) - Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage joined Dan Zangrilli at PirateFest.
Searage says he's happy that the club signed Francisco Liriano to a new three year, $39 million contract.
"I'm glad Frankie is back in the fold. He's going to be such a good force for us and help complement that rotation," Searage said.
With Liriano coming back as well as the return of A.J. Burnett, Zangrilli asked who will be slotted as the 1, 2 and 3 starters.
"We'll see how spring training goes, and we'll make adjustments and we'll line them up (with) what we think will be a good fit for the teams coming up in the beginning of the season," Searage said.
Zangrilli asked about the recovery of Jameson Taillon from Tommy John surgery.
"His development has been regressed in one year. So what he needs to do is, he needs to get back into that development mode down in AAA. He has to go through endurance, he has to go through building arm strength, he has to go through ups and downs of fatigue, he also has to go into pitch development, too," Searage said.
Zangrilli asked about the pitch-framing ability of new catcher Francisco Cervelli. While Searage thinks that is important, he places higher value on another trait.
"To me, X's and O's, setting up hitters, is more important than framing pitches," Searage said. "The X's and O's-what pitch are you going to throw in this count to keep the hitter off balance? Which way are we going to go? It's a chess game."