Pirates eye division crown

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The scenario was familiar. The destination not so much.

A veteran player with not much time left leaving millions of dollars on the table for one last run to glory. Only A.J. Burnett didn’t walk away from his $12.75 million player option with the Philadelphia Phillies for Los Angeles, Washington or St. Louis.

Nope, the 38-year-old well-traveled (and well tattooed) pitcher practically sprinted to Pittsburgh. His arrival in 2012 marked a sea change in the once-floundering organization’s direction. His return three years later signals — he hopes — the end of the team’s slow but steady slog from downtrodden afterthought to world champion. And he’s not kidding.

“I want to win a ring and I want to win a ring in Pittsburgh,” Burnett said.

The Pirates are as close to being in the conversation as they’ve been in nearly a quarter century. And they’ve opened up their wallets, at least a little, to get there.

Pittsburgh made Francisco Liriano the highest-paid free agent in team history when they signed lefthander to a three-year, $39-million deal in the offseason to continue the career resurgence that began when they took a two-year flier on him in 2013.

And while Burnett took a cut, he isn’t exactly going broke. He’ll make $8 million to work as the third man in the rotation behind Liriano and Gerrit Cole.

Pittsburgh even spent $5 million for the rights to sign Korean infielder Jung-Ho Kang, who hit 40 home runs on the other side of the world last year and gives the Pirates an intriguing if unproven option should shortstop Jordy Mercer falter or second baseman Neil Walker’s back flare up.

General manager Neal Huntington remains adamant his team’s budget will never compare to those of clubs in larger markets but allows there is “more margin for error” than in years’ past.

“We’ve built a deeper club because of the money allocated to us,” he said. “But we need to continue to grow and mature. We want to put ourselves in a position to win the World Series.”

There are worse places to start than in Pittsburgh, which backed up its breakthrough year in 2013 with a second straight postseason berth in 2014. The playoff run ended abruptly against Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants in the NL wild card game. Yet the point had been made. The Pirates aren’t going anywhere.