Pirates Notes: Jones, Harbin, Brannigan, Simón
Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided some injury updates to reporters, including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Perhaps most notably, right-hander Jared Jones is doing well in his rehab and the club is trying to have him ready at the one-year mark of his surgery.
Jones underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow on May 21st of 2025. It was not a full Tommy John surgery, as the club announced it as a UCL repair, rather than a replacement. They also listed the estimated return timeline as 10 to 12 months, shorter than that of TJS.
When the Bucs signed José Urquidy a couple of weeks ago, they put Jones on the 60-day injured list. That clock doesn’t start until the season opens, so Jones won’t be eligible for reinstatement until late May, but it seems the Pirates are hoping that he can be healthy enough to be activated as soon as the 60 days are up.
That would be a great development for the Pirates if all goes according to plan. Jones had an exciting debut in 2024, posting a 4.14 earned run average in 121 2/3 innings. He struck out 26.2% of batters faced while only giving out walks 7.7% of the time. Pittsburgh goes into the season with Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller in two rotation spots. They should be followed by some combination of Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler, Urquidy, Hunter Barco and Thomas Harrington.
Ideally, Jones can get healthy by late May and jump into that group. Who gets bumped out will naturally depend on who is healthy and performing well in the interim. Skenes is optionable but obviously isn’t getting sent down. Keller and Urquidy can’t be optioned to the minors without consent since each has at least five years of service time, though Urquidy consented to being optioned with the Tigers last year. Everyone else in the mix is optionable.
Turning to the bullpen, Ryan Harbin won’t be in the mix for the Opening Day roster. He has a teres major injury and won’t throw for the next six weeks, at which point he will undergo further imaging. Whenever he is declared healthy, he will have to ramp back up to game readiness.
Harbin was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November. He has a full slate of options and his upper level minor league experience is still limited, with just 14 appearances at both Double-A and Triple-A. He was probably a long shot to earn an Opening Day roster spot but he will be in the mix for an up-and-down bullpen depth job this year. That will be on pause until he gets healthy. Even once cleared, he will probably have to show some improved command. He struck out 31.9% of batters faced in the minors last year but gave out walks at a massive 16% clip.
Infielder Jack Brannigan got hit in the nose with a ground ball recently and sustained multiple injuries to the area. His timeline is still being determined. He is on the 40-man roster but wasn’t likely to factor into the Opening Day roster as he still has no Triple-A experience. He should be ticketed for a depth role this year, so there shouldn’t be a strong need to rush through this current setback.
There was also an update on non-roster infielder/outfielder Ronny Simón. He underwent shoulder surgery about four months ago and should get into games in late March or early April. He suffered a dislocated left shoulder in August and finished last year on the IL. He was non-tendered in November and then re-signed to a minor league deal. He’ll have to get healthy and then embark on a delayed spring ramp-up before factoring into the club’s position player depth. He hasn’t hit much in the majors yet but slashed .297/.392/.452 on the farm last year while stealing 28 bases in just 69 games and bouncing around to multiple positions.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Pirates Sign Carson Fulmer To Minor League Deal
The Pirates have signed right-hander Carson Fulmer to a minor league contract, reports Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fulmer, a client of Icon Sports Management, receives an invite to big league spring training and has already arrived at Pirates camp.
Fulmer, 32, was the No. 8 overall pick back in 2015. He hasn’t matched that draft status or the considerable fanfare he generated during his Vanderbilt days, but he’s pitched decently in a multi-inning role for the Angels across the past three seasons, logging a combined 4.43 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 42.3% ground-ball rate in 126 innings (44 relief appearances, nine starts).
As Alex Stumpf points out, this is somewhat incredibly the fourth stint for Fulmer in the Pirates organization — despite never actually appearing in a major league game with them. Pittsburgh claimed Fulmer off waivers from the Tigers back in August of 2020 and immediately optioned him. He was designated him for assignment a couple weeks later and lost to the Orioles via waivers. The Bucs claimed him back from the Orioles three weeks later and even recalled him to the big league roster for the final couple days of the season, but he didn’t pitch in a game. Fulmer was designated for assignment the following spring and claimed by the Reds.
The Pirates also signed Fulmer to a minor league contract and brought him to camp last spring. He didn’t make the club but did spend the first two months of the season pitching for Triple-A Indianapolis, where he logged a 4.64 ERA in 42 2/3 innings (seven relief appearances, six starts). Those numbers generally align with Fulmer’s performance in parts of what is now nine seasons at the Triple-A level.
Pittsburgh’s bullpen is largely set, but there are at least a couple spots up for grabs this spring. Dennis Santana, Gregory Soto, Isaac Mattson, Justin Lawrence and Carmen Mlodzinski all figure to be on the Opening Day roster, health permitting. Left-hander Mason Montgomery, acquired alongside Brandon Lowe in the three-team deal sending righty Mike Burrows to Houston, should have a strong chance to make the club, too. The final two spots will be a contest including Evan Sisk, Kyle Nicolas, Cam Sanders and Yohan Ramirez. Since he’s out of minor league options, Ramirez might have an advantage. Non-roster invitees joining Fulmer in big league camp include Chris Devenski, Joe La Sorsa and Beau Burrows.
Bill Mazeroski Passes Away
The Pirates announced this morning that Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski passed away yesterday at age 89. The team’s statement included a tribute from chairman Bob Nutting, who described Mazeroski as “one of a kind — a true Pirates legend, a National Baseball Hall of Famer and one of the finest defensive second basemen the game has ever seen.”
“His name will always be tied to the biggest home run in baseball history and the 1960 World Series championship, but I will remember him most for the person he was: humble, gracious and proud to be a Pirate.”
A career Pirate who played 17 seasons in the big leagues from 1956-72, Mazeroski is best-known for his legendary walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. The Pirates had won their first National League pennant since 1927 on the strength of eight All-Star players, including Mazeroski. Still, they faced a challenge in overcoming a powerful Yankees roster featuring Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, and others.
With the Series tied at three games apiece, it was Mazeroski who delivered the winning blow in the bottom of the 9th of a wild Game 7. On a 1-0 count against Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry, Mazeroski drilled a high fastball over the left-center field wall to clinch the Pirates’ 10-9 victory and the championship. It was their first World Series title since 1925 and the first time a World Series ended on a walk-off home run. To this day, Mazeroski’s blast stands as one of the most iconic home runs in the history of the sport.
Mazeroski joined the Pirates organization out of high school in 1954, and made his MLB debut in July 1956 at the age of 19. He played his first full season in 1957 and established himself as a contact-oriented second baseman, batting .283 with 149 hits and 59 runs scored. His 1958 season was arguably his best, as Maz batted .275/.308/.439 in 607 plate appearances with 156 hits and 19 home runs, the latter being a career high. He was an All-Star for the first time and also earned his first Gold Glove while finishing eighth in NL MVP voting.
In addition to being a contact hitter, Mazeroski’s career came to be defined by his defense. He won a total of eight Gold Gloves, including five straight from 1963-67. His defense alone was valued at 24.0 bWAR, which ties him for 23rd all-time. Mazeroski holds the record for most double plays turned (1709) as a second baseman, and his 6685 assists from the keystone ranks fifth all-time. No discussion of the game’s best defensive players is complete without mention of Mazeroski’s accomplishments.
In an 11-year stretch from 1958-68, Mazeroski tallied 1,608 of his 2,016 career hits while batting .263/.300/.374 and accumulating 32.1 bWAR. He was remarkably durable, playing at least 130 games with 527 PA or more every year from 1957-68. He earned a total of seven All-Star nods, the last of those coming in 1967 when he led the NL in games played and tallied a career-high 167 hits. He became more of a part-time player at the end of his career and won a second World Series in 1971 against the Orioles. He retired in 1972 at the age of 35.
Overall, Mazeroski batted .260/.299/.367 with 2,016 hits, 138 home runs, and 853 runs batted in. He became eligible for Hall of Fame admission in 1978 but did not meet the required threshold before falling off the ballot in 1992. Most pointed to his lower-than-usual offensive output as a reason for exclusion, but the Veterans Committee disagreed in 2001, admitting Mazeroski to the Hall in recognition of his defensive excellence.
We at MLBTR extend our condolences to Mazeroski’s family, friends, loved ones, former teammates, and baseball fans around the world.
Dodgers Claim Jack Suwinski
3:23PM: Suwinski’s claim has been officially announced by the Dodgers, and Enrique Hernandez was placed on the 60-day injured list in the corresponding roster move. Hernandez underwent surgery in November to repair a torn muscle in his non-throwing arm, and it was already known that the utilityman would be missing at least the first couple of months of the 2026 season.
1:24PM: The Dodgers are claiming outfielder Jack Suwinski off waivers, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Pirates designated Suwinski for assignment earlier this week to open up a 40-man roster spot for Marcell Ozuna.
The 27-year-old Suwinski has struggled mightily over the past two years, following a breakout 2023 campaign. The outfielder began last season on the big-league roster, but didn’t make it through April. He ended up tallying 59 games with the Pirates and 56 games at Triple-A. Suwinski mashed in the minors to the tune of a 150 wRC+. He managed just a 55 wRC+ in 178 MLB plate appearances.
With the Pirates adding outfielders Jhostynxon Garcia and Jake Mangum in separate trades this offseason, plus free agent signing Ryan O’Hearn potentially spending time on the grass, Suwinski was a long shot to contribute with the Pirates. The Ozuna addition locked up the DH spot, further limiting the chance for Suwinski to make the club. He’ll head to the Dodgers and look to rebuild his value in a different organization.
As good as Suwinski was in 2023, his swing-and-miss tendencies suggested the production was unsustainable. He hit 26 home runs and chipped in 13 steals in his first full season in the big leagues, but it came with a 32% strikeout rate. That was after a rookie year that saw him swat 19 home runs in 372 plate appearances while striking out at a 30.6% clip. Suwinski has walked at a strong 12.3% rate as a big leaguer, so he’s got the three true outcomes covered. He just hasn’t done enough of the home run part of the equation in recent seasons.
The Dodgers are set in the outfield with Teoscar Hernandez, Andy Pages, and Kyle Tucker locked into everyday roles. The right-handed Pages has been much better against lefties (.831 OPS) than righties (.722 OPS) in his career, so perhaps there’s a platoon opportunity there, but his glove is tough to take out of the lineup. Suwinski has put up -16 Defensive Runs Saved in his career as a center fielder, so he’s unlikely to be a fit in that role. Pushing Alex Call for the fourth outfielder gig is his best hope to make the roster.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Poll: Which Team Had The Best Offseason?
The offseason has more or less come to a close at this point. While a handful of players remain available in free agency and there’s always a chance of a surprise trade or two throughout Spring Training, the vast majority of the heavy lifting has been done. As Spring Training begins, it’s worth checking in on what teams around the league did this winter to see which club had the strongest offseason. A look at a few of the candidates:
Baltimore Orioles
After a disastrous 2025 season that saw the club fall to the basement of the American League, the Orioles have been very busy in their efforts to turn things around. A rotation that struggled to stay above water last year saw the return of Zach Eflin as well as the additions of both Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt. Those additions may not have included the front-of-the-rotation ace the Orioles were widely expected to pursue, but the club was aggressive elsewhere on the roster. Ryan Helsley was brought in to close while Felix Bautista is injured, and the club swung a deal for Taylor Ward to help round out their outfield. By far the biggest addition of the winter, however, was slugger Pete Alonso, who signed a five-year, $155MM contract. Alonso adds a legitimate 40-homer threat to the middle of a lineup that struggled to generate much offense outside of Gunnar Henderson last year and was heavily slanted toward lefty hitters.
Chicago Cubs
It’s rare that a team would be in this conversation after losing the offseason’s top-ranked free agent, but there’s a lot to like about the 2026 Cubs even after bidding farewell to Kyle Tucker. Alex Bregman, signed to a five-year, $175MM deal, can’t be expected to be the same offensive force as peak-level Tucker, but he makes up for that by helping to complete what’s arguably become the best defensive infield in baseball alongside Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, and Michael Busch. The move pushes Matt Shaw into a utility role, where he can serve as protection against injury for the club while also potentially sharing time with fellow youngster Moises Ballesteros at DH. The addition of Bregman was complemented by the decision to swing a trade for high-upside righty Edward Cabrera in the rotation. That likely pushes swingman Colin Rea back into a bullpen that’s been rebuilt with Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, and Hoby Milner after losing Brad Keller, Andrew Kittredge, and Drew Pomeranz back in November.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers’ offseason hasn’t been an exceptionally busy one, but the few moves they wound up making could prove to be the most impactful of any team this winter. They kicked off their offseason by poaching star closer Edwin Diaz away from the Mets, but their biggest splash was the addition of Tucker to their outfield. Diaz and Tucker are both All-Stars with among the highest ceilings in the game at their respective positions. Adding both to an already star-studded roster, the Dodgers managed to address the 2025 team’s biggest weaknesses: a lackluster outfield and a leaky bullpen. They also extended Max Muncy on an affordable one-year deal and reunited with Kiké Hernandez and Evan Phillips. After back-to-back World Series championships, the Dodgers look even better headed into 2026 despite their relatively low volume of transactions.
New York Mets
While the Dodgers mostly kept their 2025 team intact for 2026 with just a few additions, the Mets went in the opposite direction with a complete roster overhaul. Out went Alonso, Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil. Replacing them is a host of talent ranging from new staff ace Freddy Peralta to relievers Devin Williams and Luke Weaver on the pitching side, and a cluster of position players headlined by star infielder Bo Bichette. In addition to Bichette, who’ll move to third base alongside shortstop Francisco Lindor, the team brought in Marcus Semien to handle the keystone, Jorge Polanco to cover first base, and Luis Robert Jr. to work in center field. It’s a busy offseason that completely changed the look of the team that failed to make the playoffs last year, though it remains to be seen if this team will better support Lindor and Juan Soto in their pursuit of a World Series championship.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays finished just shy of a World Series championship last year, and this winter they acted like a team that wanted to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to close the gap. A new-look rotation added Dylan Cease at the front and Cody Ponce at the back. A lineup that lost Bichette in free agency looked to make up for it by bringing in Kazuma Okamoto and Jesus Sanchez. Meanwhile, the team’s shaky bullpen upgraded from hard-throwing righty Seranthony Dominguez by bringing in ever-reliable soft-tosser Tyler Rogers. Missing out on both Bichette and Tucker takes some of the punch out of Toronto’s offseason, but adding Cease to a rotation that already includes Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage should make the Jays significantly more threatening than they already were last year.
Other Options
Plenty of teams had offseasons worthy of praise aside from the five listed above. The Tigers managed to snag arguably the top pitcher available in lefty Framber Valdez on a short-term deal while also reuniting with future Hall of Famer and Detroit legend Justin Verlander, though failing to upgrade the lineup is surely disappointing for fans hoping to see the team make the most of Tarik Skubal‘s likely last year in town.
The Red Sox were very busy this winter as they brought in Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo, Willson Contreras, and Caleb Durbin via the trade market while signing Ranger Suarez and Isiah Kiner-Falefa in free agency, but the team’s failure to reunite with Bregman casts a shadow over their busy winter.
The Astros got the rotation depth they coveted, signing NPB star Tatsuya Imai to a three-year deal with multiple opt-outs and acquiring righty Mike Burrows in a three-team trade that sent outfielder Jacob Melton to the Rays. They’re still too right-handed and have a glut of infielders that could still lead to one more big spring trade.
The Pirates were very active by their usual standards, overhauling the lineup to bring in Ryan O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna, and Brandon Lowe among others. The Rangers came into the winter without much room to add but managed to come away with a solid bat (Nimmo) for the lineup and a big arm (MacKenzie Gore) for the rotation nonetheless. The Mariners kept Josh Naylor and added Brendan Donovan to the infield. The A’s added only complementary pieces (McNeil, Aaron Civale) in terms of external additions but deserve praise for their franchise-altering extensions of Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson.
On the flipside, the rebuilding Cardinals managed to shed significant portions of the Contreras, Gray and Nolan Arenado contracts and pulled in a nice return from the Mariners (and Rays) in the three-team Donovan trade.
What team do MLBTR’s readers think had the best offseason this winter? Have your say in the poll below:
Which team had the best offseason?
Pirates Sign Marcell Ozuna
Feb. 16: Pittsburgh has officially announced the Ozuna deal. Outfielder Jack Suwinski was designated for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot for the new DH.
Feb. 9: The Pirates and slugger Marcell Ozuna are reportedly in agreement on a one-year, $12MM contract, pending a physical. The CAA client will be paid a $10.5MM salary this year, plus a $1.5MM buyout on a $16MM mutual option for the 2027 season. A mutual option hasn’t been exercised by both parties since 2014, so that option effectively just kicks a portion of the guarantee down the road by a year.
Ozuna turned 35 in November. The 2025 season was a down showing by his standards, but he was still a better-than-average offensive performer overall down in Atlanta. He batted .232/.355/.400 with a career-high 15.9% walk rate, a 24.3% strikeout rate, 21 homers and 19 doubles in 592 plate appearances. That overall line was weighed down by a brutal stretch in the middle of a roller-coaster season. Ozuna raced out to a scorching start in April and May, was one of the league’s worst hitters in June, and then settled in as a slightly above-average hitter for the season’s final three months.
The downturn in production dovetailed with a hip injury through which Ozuna continued to play at less than 100%. It’s impossible to say for certain whether that, age, or a combination of both was the driving factor in last season’s dip in bat speed, but Statcast measured his bat speed at 75 mph in 2023 (86th percentile of MLB hitters), 74 mph in 2024 (81st percentile) and 72.9 mph in 2025 (64th percentile). Accordingly, his typically elite exit velocity and hard-hit rate both fell. Ozuna averaged 89.9 mph off the bat and logged a 44.4% hard-hit rate in 2025. Both are still decent marks, but they’re down considerably from the 92.2 mph and 53.3% marks he posted as recently as 2024.
While Ozuna ought to be an upgrade to Pittsburgh’s lineup overall, the fit isn’t exactly perfect. Beyond the fact that PNC Park is perhaps the worst environment in MLB for right-handed power, the Buccos’ roster is a bit cluttered with corner bats who could use some of the DH time that Ozuna will now command on an everyday basis. Spencer Horwitz and Ryan O’Hearn had been lined up to share time at first base and designated hitter, with O’Hearn perhaps seeing some time in left. Horwitz, after a slow start to his season in 2025, finished the year out on a blistering .314/.402/.539 tear in his final two-plus months of play. He’s locked into an everyday role. O’Hearn can play in the outfield corners, but Bryan Reynolds has one of those two spots locked down.
Signing Ozuna, who has hasn’t played in the field at all in either of the past two seasons (and only logged 14 innings in 2023), likely pushes O’Hearn into an everyday role in the outfield. He has plenty of experience on the grass but rates as a sub-par defender there, whereas he’s an above-average defender at first base. Horwitz does have 604 professional innings in left field to his credit, so he could perhaps be on option in left as well, but all 604 of those frames have been in the minors — half of them back in 2019 and 2021. He’s played some second base, too, but that was a short experiment and the Pirates already acquired Brandon Lowe to man that position.
Presumably, the primary alignment moving forward will have O’Hearn in left field, Lowe at second, Horwitz at first base and Ozuna at designated hitter. It’s not Pittsburgh’s ideal setup from a defensive standpoint, but the Pirates will make that sacrifice in the name of getting some quality bats into the middle of what has typically been one of MLB’s weakest lineups over the past decade-plus. Newcomers O’Hearn, Lowe and Ozuna will join holdovers like Reynolds, Horwitz and Oneil Cruz, giving the Bucs a potentially strong top six in their order at the very least — and that’s before counting shortstop Konnor Griffin, who is the sport’s consensus No. 1 overall prospect and should debut in 2026.
Bringing Ozuna into the fold also seems to formally put an end to Andrew McCutchen‘s second act in Pittsburgh. He could feasibly be a right-handed bench bat who takes some occasional corner outfield reps, but McCutchen played 120 games at designated hitter in 2025. Signing Ozuna clearly displaces him from that role, and it’s hard to see the two fitting together on the same roster. McCutchen recently met with Pirates owner Bob Nutting, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported last week — a meeting that came on the heels of the franchise icon voicing some frustration with the manner in which the team had handled offseason talks.
Adding Ozuna pushes the Pirates’ payroll to $102.25MM, per Ethan Hullihen, which will somewhat remarkably establish a new franchise-record for Opening Day payroll. It’s still a very modest total relative to the rest of the league, but the Bucs have spent more than $50MM in free agency overall and also taken on Lowe’s $11.5MM salary in a trade with the Rays. It’s possible there are additional moves to come. The Pirates have been in the market for third base upgrades as well. That market has been largely picked over, but there are still surely some creative options they can pursue on the trade market.
It’s not clear exactly how much more ownership is willing to boost the payroll, but the team’s reported four-year, $120-125MM offer to Kyle Schwarber and the flurry of subsequent additions pretty clearly indicates that Nutting is willing to spend at levels he has not considered approaching in the past. The Bucs currently have a plus defender at the hot corner in Jared Triolo, but he’s a well below-average hitter who’s capable of fielding multiple spots around the infield, so he could fit nicely in a utility/bench role if GM Ben Cherington can find a third base acquisition to his liking on the trade market.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported Ozuna and the Pirates agreed to a $12MM deal. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported the $10.5MM salary and $1.5MM buyout on a $16MM mutual option.
Pirates Designate Jack Suwinski For Assignment
10:50 am: Pittsburgh has confirmed the Suwinski DFA. Ozuna will take his spot on the 40-man roster. The club has a week to either find a trade partner for Suwinski or try to pass him through waivers.
9:28 am: The Pirates are designating outfielder Jack Suwinski for assignment, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The 27-year-old has spent parts of the last four big-league seasons with the club.
As Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pointed out this morning, the Pirates need to clear a 40-man roster spot for the addition of Marcell Ozuna. The new DH was practicing with the team, while Suwinski was not with the rest of the position players during today’s Spring Training activities.
Suwinski broke camp with the team last season, but hit just .128 over the first three weeks of the campaign. He found himself back in Triple-A before the end of April. Suwinski was up and down between the two levels multiple times. He missed a couple of weeks with a groin strain near the end of the season, but did close the year in the big leagues. Suwinski slashed .147/.281/.253 in 59 games with the Pirates.
Pittsburgh promoted Suwinski to the MLB squad shortly into the 2022 season, and the lefty injected big power into the lineup. The outfielder wrapped up his first year in the bigs with 19 home runs in 372 plate appearances. It came with a bloated 30.6% strikeout rate, though Suwinski also walked at a double-digit clip. The 2023 campaign was Suwinski’s first look as a full-time player. He appeared in 144 games as the club’s primary center fielder. Suwinski racked up 26 home runs and 13 steals, but his strikeout rate crept over 32%.
Suwinski slipped into a part-time role in 2024. He hit .182 while splitting time between all three outfield spots. He came into last season without a defined role following Oneil Cruz‘s transition to the outfield. Suwinski smashed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a 150 wRC+, but never found his footing at the big-league level this past year.
The power/speed combo could lead a team to take a flyer on Suwinski. He still barreled the ball at a near-12% rate in 2025. Suwinski is ill-suited for center field (-16 Defensive Runs Saved for his career), though he can be a net-neutral defender in the corners.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Elroy Face Passes Away
The Pirates announced this evening that former All-Star reliever Elroy Face has passed away at 97. He pitched parts of 16 seasons in the big leagues, all but the final of which came in Pittsburgh.
“It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Pirates Hall of Famer Elroy Face, a beloved member of the Pirates family,” chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “I was fortunate to get to know Elroy personally, and I will always be proud that we had the chance to honor him with his induction into the Pirates Hall of Fame. Elroy was a pioneer of the modern relief pitcher — the ‘Baron of the Bullpen’ — and he played a critical role in our 1960 World Series championship, leading the league in appearances and recording three saves against the Yankees. Our thoughts are with his three children — Michelle, Valerie and Elroy Jr. — and his sister Jacqueline.”
An upstate New York native, Face began his career in the Phillies organization in 1949. The 5’8″ righty, a sidearmer whose specialty was the forkball, emerged as a favorite of Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey, who acquired him when he was Dodgers’ GM over the 1950-51 offseason. Rickey took the same position with the Pirates the following year and added Face during the 1952-53 winter, at which point the pitcher was in Double-A.
Face pitched poorly as a rookie and was sent back to Double-A for the ’54 season. He returned to the majors the following year, working in a swing role before making a full-time bullpen conversion by 1956. Face would lead the majors with 68 appearances that season, tossing 135 1/3 innings of 3.52 ERA ball. The Pirates used him mostly at the back of games at a time when many teams didn’t have set closers. Face led the National League in games finished in four of five seasons between 1958-62.
The save statistic didn’t come into use until 1969. Face was retroactively credited as the NL saves leader in three of those seasons, including MLB high marks in 1958 (20) and ’62 (28). He posted a sub-3.00 earned run average in four of those years, including a career-low 1.88 mark over 91 innings during the ’62 campaign.
Even if saves weren’t around at the time, Face’s accomplishments were appreciated during his career. He appeared on MVP ballots each season between 1958-60. He was an All-Star every year between 1959-61 and technically was selected to six All-Star Games, as MLB had both a midseason and postseason All-Star Game for a brief stretch during Face’s peak.
The 1960 season is etched into baseball history. Face tossed 114 2/3 innings of 2.90 ERA ball with 61 games finished for a 95-59-1 team that won the pennant. The respective best regular season teams in each league went to the World Series in those days. Pittsburgh went up against a Yankees club that had Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford in their primes.
The Pirates would go on to win one of the most iconic series in league history. Face got the save in each of their first three victories: Games 1, 4, and 5. He pitched the sixth through eighth innings of Game 7. That wasn’t his sharpest outing, as he gave up a go-ahead home run to Yogi Berra, but Pittsburgh would come back to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth. After the Yankees tied it in the top of the ninth, Bill Mazeroski connected on what remains the only Game 7 walk-off home run in history.
That World Series was the only time that Face would pitch in the postseason, but he remained in Pittsburgh for most of the 60s. He added four sub-3.00 ERA seasons well into his 30s and had brief stops in Detroit and with the Expos to finish his career.
The Pirates have been around for more than 140 seasons. Face remains the franchise’s all-time leader in pitching appearances (802), games finished (547) and saves (186). He pitched nearly 1400 innings with a 3.48 ERA and recorded 877 strikeouts. Face topped 100 wins — including an astounding 18-1 record out of the bullpen in 1959 — and came up just shy of 200 saves overall, as he added five more during his final season in Montreal. Face was inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame three years ago. MLBTR sends condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.
Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the news.
Pirates Sign José Urquidy
February 11: Pittsburgh officially announced Urquidy’s one-year deal on Wednesday evening. Jones was placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. He’ll miss at least the first two months of the regular season but could be back before the All-Star Break as he rehabs from the elbow procedure. Pittsburgh will need to make another 40-man roster move — likely designating someone for assignment — once they finalize their agreement with DH Marcell Ozuna.
February 5: The Pirates and right-hander José Urquidy are reportedly in agreement on a one-year, $5MM contract. Urquidy, an Octagon client, can boost that salary further via incentives.
Pittsburgh generated headlines yesterday when they jumped in as a late entrant in the Framber Valdez bidding before he ultimately went to the Tigers last night. They’ll still add a former Astros hurler to reunite with new pitching coach Bill Murphy, though on a much smaller scale. Murphy coached Urquidy with Houston from 2021-24.
From 2021-22, Urquidy was an unheralded but quality member of the Houston rotation, starting 48 games and pitching to a solid 3.81 ERA with a 20.3% strikeout rate and a tiny 5.2% walk rate. Injuries began to slow him down in 2023. He missed three months with a shoulder injury that season, and his entire 2024 campaign was wiped out by an elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery over the summer. The 2025 season had been scheduled to be Urquidy’s final year of club control, so the Astros unsurprisingly cut him loose following the season.
Urquidy latched on with the Tigers on a one-year, $1MM contract that included a 2026 club option valued at $4MM. He returned from the injured list in September but pitched only 2 1/3 innings in the majors before consenting to be optioned. He pitched well in the minors last year (2.91 ERA, 22.2 K%, 6.2 BB% in 21 2/3 frames) but was hit hard in his small big league sample. The Tigers opted to decline their 2026 option and send Urquidy back to the open market.
With the injury troubles ostensibly behind him, Urquidy heads to the Pirates as an interesting buy-low candidate with some upside. Because he favors a changeup as his go-to offspeed pitch, he has substantial reverse splits in his career. Lefties have posted an awful .203/.257/.362 slash against him, whereas righties — with some help from the short left-field porch in Houston — have tagged him for a .267/.314/.468 batting line. Moving from one of the best environments for right-handed home runs to perhaps the worst in MLB will surely benefit his skill set.
Exactly what role the Pirates have in store for Urquidy, who turns 31 in May, remains to be seen. The Bucs are as deep as nearly any team in the sport when it comes to starting pitching but seem to add a low-cost veteran around this time of the offseason every year. In the past, that’s meant short-term pickups of Tyler Anderson, Jose Quintana, Martín Pérez and Andrew Heaney. Urquidy isn’t a lefty like that quartet but still seems to meet general manager Ben Cherington’s annual bargain starter quota.
Reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes will, of course, be the Pirates’ Opening Day starter. He’ll be followed in some order by veteran Mitch Keller and young flamethrowers Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft, both of whom impressed as rookies in 2025. Urquidy will join a competition for the fifth spot that includes Carmen Mlodzinski, Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington and Jared Jones, who’ll be returning from 2024 Tommy John surgery. Mlodzinski fared better as a reliever than a starter last season, so this move could push him to the ‘pen. If Urquidy is outshined by Jones, Barco or Harrington in camp, he could open the season in a swingman capacity.
Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported that the sides had an agreement. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported that it was a $1.5MM base with incentives.
Astros, Pirates Have Discussed Joey Bart
Earlier this month, the Pirates were reported to have interest in trading for Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes. That no longer seems to be on the table now that Pittsburgh has agreed to a one-year, $12MM contract with DH Marcell Ozuna. Indeed, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette confirmed that those trade talks have “since gone quiet.” However, Mackey also added a notable tidbit about those talks: The two sides discussed catcher Joey Bart as part of the package the Pirates would send to the Astros in exchange for the two-time All-Star Paredes. Mackey went on to speculate that it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bart come up in future trade talks as well.
After years of struggling to live up to his top-prospect billing in San Francisco, Bart blossomed into a productive part-time player with Pittsburgh. Over the past two seasons, he owns a .745 OPS and a 110 wRC+ in 173 games. His defensive metrics have been poor but passable, considering his above-average offense. All in all, he has produced 1.3 FanGraphs WAR in back-to-back campaigns; his 2.6 total fWAR puts him among the game’s top 25 catchers since 2024.
As valuable as Bart has been for the Pirates the last two years, they can afford to part with him. General manager Ben Cherington told reporters (including Mackey) that he believes former top prospects Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez are capable of handling a “primary” catcher’s workload. He expressed the same faith in rookie Rafael Flores Jr. While Cherington went on to say that he will “hold onto that depth” for as long as he can, eventually, he’ll have to make a decision. The Pirates can’t carry four catchers on their Opening Day roster. The club certainly could decide to stick with Bart, the most proven choice, and option two of Davis, Rodríguez, and Flores to the minors. Yet, trading Bart also seems to be on the table.
The Astros still make sense as a suitor. After losing Victor Caratini in free agency to the Twins, Houston only has two catchers on its 40-man roster: starter Yainer Diaz and projected backup César Salazar. Non-roster invitee Carlos Pérez is the only other backstop in camp with big league experience. Salazar is entering his age-30 season with a .586 OPS, 0.3 fWAR, and 36 MLB games to his name. Pérez hasn’t played in the majors since 2023. And while Diaz ranked seventh among catchers in defensive innings last year, he still only started 111 games. There’s no question he could use a more proven backup.
The Rays are another potential suitor to consider; they were reportedly hoping to trade for a catcher back in January after missing out on free agent J.T. Realmuto. The Red Sox are another team that was, at least at one point, looking to improve behind the dish. Bart is set to make $2.53MM in his second year of arbitration eligibility. He will remain under team control through 2027.