Rainey will get a chance to help the Pittsburgh relief group, but he has struggled in Triple-A with a 6.00 ERA over nine innings. He’ll likely work in the middle innings while with the Bucs.

Rainey was non-tendered last month by the Nationals after compiling a pedestrian 4.76 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and 44/29 K/BB ratio across 51 innings (50 appearances) last year. It’s worth noting that he was much better down the home stretch, so the Pirates are going to roll the dice on the 31-year-old righty and give him a chance to compete in spring training for a spot in their season-opening bullpen.

Rainey was non-tendered by the Nationals last month even though he posted a 2.48 ERA in his final 29 appearances of the season. Overall, he had a 4.76 ERA over 51 innings in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. He’ll stand a decent chance of winning a spot in Pittsburgh’s pen.

With his velocity well down after Tommy John surgery, Rainey scarcely resembled a major leaguer at the beginning of last season. The velocity, though, did begin to get better, and he wound up with a 2.48 ERA in his final 29 appearances, albeit with pretty middling peripherals. He would have gotten only a modest raise from last year’s $1.5 million salary in arbitration, but the Nats have decided to look elsewhere for now.