Pirates re-sign reliever Jason Grilli to two-year, $7M contract

The Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to bring back free-agent relief pitcher Jason Grilli on a two-year deal, reports CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler. Grilli gets $7 million total in the deal and took less to come back to the Pirates, reports Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.

Jason Grilli returns to the Pirates. (Getty Images)

The Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to bring back free-agent relief pitcher Jason Grilli on a two-year deal, reports CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler. Grilli gets $7 million total in the deal and took less to come back to the Pirates, reports Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.

Grilli, 36, was an inconsistent journeyman through much of his career, but he seems to have found a home in Pittsburgh. He missed all of 2010 due to a knee injury and spent half the 2011 season in Triple-A before the Phillies released him. Grilli then signed with the Pirates and had a 2.48 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings the rest of the way.

Last season, Grilli had a 2.91 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 90 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings. And then there's this: Since joining the Pirates, Grilli has inherited 25 baserunners and allowed only two of them to score -- an excellent 92 percent strand rate.

Grilli appears slated to be the Pirates' top setup man in front of closer Joel Hanrahan at this point. If Hanrahan is traded -- and there have been some rumors that he would be -- Grilli is likely in line to be the Pirates' closer.

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