Pirates learn how to build a winner: Find a Liriano Teams hoping to bolster their pitching rotation this winter will have a final look at most of their free-agent options this week, and all are hoping for the kind of success the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates had last off-season. Ervin Santana, Matt Garza, Tim Lincecum and Ricky Nolasco are among the players available, but based on last winter's signings, there are really only two choices for luring a productive free-agent starter from another team: pay exorbitant prices for a premium talent or pay almost nothing and hope for a turnaround. Most other deals, at least last off-season, disappointed: Edwin Jackson and Joe Blanton, Dan Haren and Brandon McCarthy, Joe Saunders and Shaun Marcum, to name a few. At the top of the salary scale, the Dodgers lavished six years and $147-million on Zack Greinke, who is 15-3 with a 2.75 earned-run average for the National League West champions. At the bottom, the Pirates pulled off the steal of the off-season, snagging Francisco Liriano for a guarantee of just $1-million. Liriano leads the Pirates in wins, going 16-7 with an ERA of 2.88, and the team is poised for its first winning season since 1992 and, almost certainly, a berth in the playoffs. Even after being chosen for the all-star team in July, Jeff Locke, a fellow Pirates left-hander, called Liriano the most important part of the team's renaissance. "Liriano was that missing piece that kind of put everything together," Locke said. Frankie's fun to watch. Liriano, 29, has been fun to watch before. He won 12 of 15 decisions as a rookie for Minnesota in 2006, and threw a no-hitter for the Twins in 2011. But he slipped in 2012, going 6-12 with a 5.34 ERA for the Twins and the Chicago White Sox. The Pirates, who raised their payroll this season but still hunt for bargains, took an interest. "I don't know that we saw something that everybody else missed," general manager Neal Huntington said. We were willing to take a chance. We saw a guy that, if everything clicked, had three above-average major-league pitches: the slider and the changeup for sure, and the fastball if we could get him to command it a little bit better. With the change in leagues, with the change in ballparks, with the change in team, we thought he could come over here and do a very nice job for us. The previous off-season, the Pirates had taken a similar chance on A.J. Burnett, acquiring him in a trade with the Yankees. Like Liriano, Burnett had exceptional stuff but often struggled to harness it. In a new environment, Burnett flourished, going 16-10 in 2012. He has tailed off to 8-11 in 2013. The Pirates and Liriano originally agreed to a two-year, $12.75-million contract last off-season. But before he signed the deal, Liriano broke his right (nonthrowing) arm in an accident at home. That slashed the guarantee to $1-million. "It essentially made it a make-good deal," Huntington said, "that if he got healthy and stayed healthy, he had a chance to earn the money that he would have made. And he's gone out and he's earned it. I can't say enough good things about the man. Despite missing the first month of the season, Liriano reached a career high in victories, with 15, on Aug. 30. After that game, he said he had changed his approach since his younger days. "I'm not trying to be a strikeout guy," said Liriano, who still averages roughly a strikeout an inning. Early in my career, I was going to try harder and blow people out. Now I just try to go deep in games. Reducing his walks has probably helped the most. In each of the last two seasons, Liriano averaged at least five walks per nine innings. This season, helped by a delivery in which he gets his hands higher over his head, Liriano has averaged about 31/2 walks per nine. "It was a choice of risk-reward for us, and we decided to go with the higher-risk/higher-reward guy," Huntington said, "because we felt like if we hit, we had a chance to really grab a very good major league pitcher, and he deserves the credit." While the injury reduced the risk for the Pirates, they had t he wisdom not to abandon Liriano. Because of his success, the Pirates will not have to dive back into free agency to replace him this off-season. By staying healthy, Liriano has already guaranteed an $8-million salary for 2014.