11:12am: The Pirates have announced the signing of Fleming and also confirmed their previously reported one-year deal with veteran catcher . In Josh Placzek Jersey order to create roster space, right-hander and catcher were both placed on the 60-day injured list. Both are expected to mi s the 2024 season after requiring surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in their respective throwing elbows. 8:45am: The Pirates and lefty are in agreement on a split major league contract, Robert Murray of FanSided. The Republik Sports client will earn $850K if hes in the big leagues. Pittsburgh will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Fleming to make the contract official. While Flemings deal is a split contract, meaning it comes with different rates of pay in the big leagues and in Triple-A, hes out of minor league options as well. The minor league salary will only come into play in the event that the Pirates remove him from the 40-man roster and pa s him through waivers. At that point, Fleming could reject an outright a signment in favor of free agency, but doing so would require forfeiting the rates of pay on his deal with the Pirates, and hed be no lock to secure more favorable terms in free agency. As such, hed likely accept a minor league a signment if that scenario presents itself. The 27-year-old Fleming pitched for the Rays in each of the past four seasons, working out of both the bullpen and the starting rotation at times. He also operated as a bulk reliever following an opener in Tampa Bay at times. The southpaw has just 2.144 years of Major League service time and can thus be controlled for another four seasons. Fleming has, at times, looked like a quality fifth starter or swingman. He pitched 51 2/3 innings with the Rays in 2023 and logged a 4.70 ERA with a career-low 11.8% strikeout rate with an 8.6% walk rate while dealing with elbow inflammation. Back in 2020, he made his MLB debut with 32 1/3 innings of 2.78 ERA ball. Overall, Fleming has 223 1/3 innings in the big leagues with a 4.88 ERA, 14.9% strikeout rate, 7.1% ground-ball rate and a huge 59% grounder rate. The Pirates, per Murray, view him as a long reliever and occasional spot starter. Although hes split his time fairly evenly between the bullpen and rotation in the big leagues, Fleming has been far more effective as a reliever (3.73 ERA) than as a starter (6.10 ERA). Right-handed opponents have been a challenge in particular; hes yielded a .288/.351/.451 slash to opponents who hold the platoon advantage over him. By the Pirates standards, its been an active season in free agency. They havent handed out any multi-year deals a common theme throughout Ben Cheringtons time as general manager but have agreed to one-year pacts with ($10.5MM), ($8MM), ($5MM), ($3.2MM) and ($2.5MM). Pittsburgh also picked up veteran lefty in a trade, and hell join Perez in filling out the rotation behind . Pittsburgh has been seeking additional rotation arms, and while Fleming gives them a potential spot starter, hes unlikely to be penciled in as a full-time rotation member from day one. Further additions to the starting staff, whether via trade or free agency, still seem likely for the Bucs. Dontrae Henderson Jersey