The Pirates announced that right-hander Colin Holderman has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right knee sprain. Righty Chase Shugart has been called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
The nature or severity of Holderman’s knee issue isn’t known, but if he has been trying to pitch through discomfort, that might explain his unimpressive numbers to date this season. After giving up a run in an inning of work in yesterday’s 10-4 Pirates loss to the Yankees, Holderman’s ERA stands at an ungainly 9.64 over 4 2/3 frames, and he also has a 16% walk rate.
Naturally, this is a pretty small sample size to gauge a pitcher who has been a reliable bullpen arm for the Bucs over the previous two seasons. Holderman posted a 3.52 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, and 9.7% walk rate over 107 1/3 innings in 2023-24, though his walk and barrel rates spiked considerably from 2023 to 2024. Holderman’s impressive 52.8% grounder rate in 2023 also dropped to 37.5% last year.
With Holderman on the IL and struggling closer David Bednar optioned to Triple-A, Pittsburgh is already without two key members of its late-inning mix. Dennis Santana now looks like the prime candidate for saves or highest-leverage work of any kind, while Justin Lawrence and Caleb Ferguson will factor into the late-inning workload as well. Shugart will also get his first MLB look with his new team, as the Pirates only just acquired Shugart in a trade with the Red Sox back in January.
Guess he won’t be replacing Bednar
Nope, not when he’s named the Holder-man
With the way the Pirates are playing, do they even need a closer?
Holdermans failures at the end of last year and this year mystifies me. Him and bednar both around the same time.
Holderman just doesn’t have what it takes to be elite. Now he is injured and needs to probably start up again when ready.
Colin Holderman has not been holding it since the second half of last year. Don’t know what happened though. He looked like a solid set-up guy in 2023 and even until about late July 2024. Just seems to have lost his command, like Bednar.
He’s just another guy. Nothing special.
Mets fans can officially be “over” this bad trade for Vogelwalk.
Pitching WAR can be a little iffy but as of now, Vogelbach put up more WAR for the Mets (1.1) than Holderman has for the Pirates (0.8). Even still, though, I would argue the Pirates won the trade unless Holderman can’t ever get back to the pitcher he was last year.
Pirates won trade the second it was made. A loser team traded a fat slow platoon dh. Any return was a win. 7 years of a promising reliever was an amazing return.
He’s always shown some decent stuff. Hope he can figure it out.
Don’t understand the call up!? This guy didn’t look good this spring. Hoping for Ashcraft! Don’t understand?
Dice 66
Agree, pitched batting practice in FL.
Pitched 2 innings in Indy so far and gave up no hits so that short sample warrants a call up?
Did have a save with Boston last year though.
Hope it is a good decision for once.
Ashcraft is starter still so not a option. If you wait for 1 more weak or so you him for an additional year. Wait until June you save $.
yes because nothing says winning like saving money
It is a moot point anyway since his first few games have not gone well.
Oscar Marin needs to go
the entire coaching staff including the manager needs to go
They also need a player who doesn’t strike out on a regular basis
Good luck finding someone on this team
Oscar by far the best coach they have. Should be the last Pirates employee to go.
Lawrence and Wentz have started out well so I agree.
He must be doing something right in general.
If only he could teach hitting too.
Tommy Pham needs to go too
2 hits in 29 plate appearances
Nice signing there Ben
Move Carmen Mlodzinsky into the bullpen please before it’s too late.
Why no nicholas
He walks everybody.
Before it’s too late? What’s happening? If he moves their today 3 months 2026 doesn’t matter.
@Dream
Crazy as it sounds, this fan has a glimmer of hope they can compete with the other flawed teams in this division.
That is crazy. They look pretty awful.
It’s only 10 days in. Way too early to draw definitive conclusions for me.
Yes I didn’t understand making him a starter. Especially with the young starters ready to move up. Plus he should be their closer. Great stuff
What young starters? They gave Harrington a shot. Bubba wasn’t ready. Barco not ready. Burrows looking like reliever. Ashcraft maybe but Pirates aren’t good enough at developing and don’t have the $ to waste a year of service time. Prospects should be for depth. They need to be really special to make opening day roster.
You are living in a dream of your own..to everyone else you are just a windbag of stupidity. By the way learn the English language and learn how to put a sentence together.
You know what will help is booing them and pointing out the ownership is cheap.
Because that’s been tried yet.
Yes, cheer on the billionaire owner, and the millionaire front office and players who play in a taxpayer-built stadium like good boys and girls
I’ve never booed anyone, but paying fans have the right.
Hasn’t been tried. Just a small amount of people.
That’s the problem. Nutting can ignore the chanting. Can’t ignore not making as much $ because hardly anyone is showing up.
how about the billboards in the city over the winter?
Ot the state representative that called on Nutting to spend more money last year?
It was done opening day including fans confronting Nutting in the stands and laying into him for being cheap and when Shelton was introduced, the fans booed him
Another double digit strike out performance by the offense
Only one game this season they have struck out less than 10 times but also made up for it with a 15 strikeout game
A win is a win but they won’t win many with only 6 hits and very good pitching
bullpen blew yet another potential victory
Between the lackluster offense and the weak bullpen, even having a lead going into the 9th inning isn’t safe
But then again, you’re not going to win many games with 6 hits and striking out 10 times either
It’s just a very bad team from owner on down. They have no understanding of fundamentals. They can’t execute. They don’t hustle. They seem fine with losing
Mostly, they just dont have talent. Does any position player here start on another team? Nope
Watching the pirates today…sound like it’s a home game for the yankees
There wasn’t enough people there to tell. Pathetic show up attendance.
because all of the Yankee fans went home before the game started
The Pirates are losing money. The owner is NOT making a profit, or paying himself a salary, or taking a dividend.
And you can’t sell the team when NOBODY wants to buy it. And if somebody does end up wanting to buy the team, it will only be to move it out of Pittsburgh, which is now, and always has been, a bad market for baseball.
dkpittsburghsports.com/team/site-stuff/feed?page=0…
The Pirates ARE NOT losing money and NEVER HAVE lost money. Your usage of this source is LAUGHABLE.
What is your agenda here? What is your point in spreading outrageous mistruths and exaggerations? Just why are you here and continuing with the propaganda?
There have been a number of true journalistic exposes about Nutting and his profits going back a few years. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has done a number of pieces now. Forbes is another
I will NOT post links to make life easier for you. Find them yourself
I know it’s fashionable these days to throw out outright lies as facts these days, but I find your continued rant to be boring.
NO ONE believes your tripe
I agree with you George…this guy TRICKY DICKY…has to be a troll. If his source is Dana Kovacevic…then it’s a sham. Kovacevic is s second class journalist, radio host.
If nutting was losing money and had to take a loan out just to make payroll. He would have sold the team already.
Then he stated that anyone who would buy the team would move them. That’s a laugh. They have the best ball park in the majors. They are over 100 years old as a franchise. Attendance when they have a competing team, is very good for the population. Plus I doubt the league would let them move out of Pittsburgh.
This guy has to be a paid troll.
Kovacevic and a team of people did a thorough, months-long investigation of the Pirates finances. He found the exact opposite of what he was expecting.
They are losing money – to the point that they needed to take out loans just to have a $90 million payroll..
Their 2023 total revenues ranked 26th in MLB. Their attendance last season was typically terrible. And, in accord with their dismal revenues, they now have the 26th lowest payroll in MLB.
@Richard That team of people was collecting all the financial information that was public. That is definitely an issue when determining profit as they don’t know with any certainty all the finances.
Then come all the write offs. That is where a ton of advantages are had especially for an entity with as many moving parts and revenue streams as a pro sports franchise.
The biggest red flag is that he has been declaring no income coupled with the loans. Do you know how Jeff Bezos pays so little in taxes? Amazon regularly makes no profit and he collects 0 income. He then leverages the value of the common borrowing against for capital. This creates capital which is also an expense to be wrote off the following year and at a cost far lower than income taxes.
Richard-Nutting is not making % wise hand over fist on an annual basis but his investment has appreciated 10% annually if the $1.1B value is anywhere near accurate.
That annual % is calculated on the current value.
If he was losing money every year he would have sold the team years ago.
He is a businessman first and foremost.
Not sure how anyone really knows but the Braves $ numbers are evidently in the public arena.
Forbes would seem to be fairly accurate if you looked at the Braves $ numbers.
@mendoza. Ever invest in stocks or a business.? Why would Nutting sell if the Pirates are losing money or turning a small profit? The losses can be covered by the Pirates borrowing., no cost to the owners. The real money for any owner who bought teams years ago is not yearly profits, but the increased value of the team which is only realized if and when the team is sold.
Makes no sense for Nutting to sell now unless he needs the money. If he sells now, he pays capital gains tax and then his kids would pay inheritance tax on what he leaves to them when he dies, essentially double taxing the gains. If he doesn’t sell and leaves the Pirates to his kids, when they sell, they only pay inheritance tax. I don’t like the system as it favors the rich, but that is the way it works.
Skeptical- see post below
People will believe anything they hear or read.
No one knows what Nutting is making. He will legally fight you to keep as much of it private as he can. If he was losing $ why would he do that? If he was making a ton of $ why would the the other owners keep giving him $.
Pittsburgh is a great market for baseball. Mlb wants more markets not less.
@Your Many are either naive or fail to believe just how much the elite in this country abuse are far to over complex tax code. Pirates likely are making no profit on paper and Nutting likely making 0 taxable income as well. Instead he’s just leveraging against the amount franchise is worth to create capital. It’s far cheaper than taxes and has been the status quo for Bezos and Amazon for over 2 decades.
Positives from today’s game? Heaney threw an exceptional game, the bullpen did well in the eighth tenth and eleventh, and, for the first time this year, the Pirates scored more than four runes in a game. Granted it took eleven innings to score five runs, but it is at least something.
Again, it’s just not a talented group of major leaguers. This group reminds me of teams here in the era of McClendon/Mackanin/Tracy and Russell
Each of those teams had a player or two. No much more
I have noticed that these hitters always swing the bat upwards instead of trying to slap the ball in the direction of the pitch
And they try to pull the ball even when it’s pitched outside
I hate to be negative about specific players but Suwinski seems like he is swinging the same way that he did last year.
He seems to get fooled by off speed pitches and waves at the ball instead of aggressively trying to foul third strikes off when he is clearly fooled.
If the hitting coaches are not helping it is up to the batter to look at tape and figure out what to do different.
out of his last 9 plate appearances, 8 have been strikeouts
It’s representative of the bigger problem with the Pirates: scouting prospects and players from other organizations
I understand that the player development department is lacking but you can have a staff of tremendous coaches and still, they won’t be able to do much with guys who simply don’t have the ability to succeed at the MLB level
The Pirates have a team full of guys who wouldn’t start anywhere else, let alone guys who wouldn’t make a big league roster elsewhere
I kind of blame Shelton for allowing Boracki to continue pitching after he had given up a run in the 9th and with runners on second and third with 2 outs
It was apparent that he didn’t have good stuff, Caleb Ferguson was ready in the bullpen to get that last out
I don’t care about boring manager stuff but if Ferguson didn’t get the lefty out he would be forced to face Goldschmidt. Guy looked bad though so probably should have pulled him.
Prior to Pham’s hit in the 11th inning, the Bucs didn’t have a hit since the 4th inning
That’s pathetic
I was happy for him as he has not been hitting.
He has shown during his career to be a much better hitter than his current average.
Current average .100 so let’s hope so
I continue to be amazed that he plays at this level with keratoconus, a rare eye disease
In a sport where a ball is coming at you at around 100 mph, incredible that he’s played at this level at all
Skeptical- That is why I said that he was making 10% appreciation on his investment annually.
That is pretty good in my book.It is why it is a good long term investment.
I have stocks.I hope to make money on them.
I do not have a business.Maybe what you say is why Cohen spends so much on player salaries.
But wouldn’t it be much better for Nutting to make money from his investment on an annual basis,say 4-5%,like many investors get?
@Mendoza That profit is taxable. If he maximizes write offs and reduces profits he pays less and upto no income tax. He then borrows against the value of the team at a much lower rate and the tax itself is write off against income the following year.
I’d assume he’s maximizing the depreciate capital expenditures right now. For anything land and building related it has to be wrote off within 27.5 yrs. Im not sure if that clock reset when he became majority owner or if it’s been running since it first opened. I’m sure much of the depreciation was delayed. In early yrs write offs were likely plentiful. Late 2000’s probably not needed due to economy. Leaving alot of depreciation for later which the clock in could be ticking down if midnight on that clock is in 2028.
Tigers-I appreciate the comment from someone who seems to know what he is talking about.
I do not have these same complexities and would have to rely on others smarter than me if I did.
Carmen is scheduled to make his second start of the season tonight which will eventually become a bullpen game
By Wednesday, Shelton will be complaining that the bullpen pitchers are tired from being used so often
But hey, it’s great they have so many “young studs” on the farm, isn’t it? It’s likely they’re just like position players who come through and never pan out.
Here’s a team destined for 100 losses but let’s think about player control and timing. Sheesh
when is our stud first baseman coming off of the IL?
Between Valdez, Triolo and Endy, they have a combined 4 runs batted in and only 3 XBH including no homers
Which reminds me, Bart shouldn’t be in the number 4 position in the lineup.on any other team but as you said, they lack real talent
Yeah, I could see 100 losses
The man 3…any lineup that the MORON puts out is showing how incapable he is as a manager. No Bart shouldn’t be cleanup. I think the other day he had Pham clean up. And he keeps on insisting on batting Reynolds 2nd. Then he leads off with Frazier.
Total ineptness.
They were relying on so many questionable things going into this season. Bart was one. He had a breakout season last year. Great
But relying on him, Endy, the resurrection of Jack and Hayes, and a guy like Pham was asking a great deal. Cruz is at his apex. He can’t get out of his own way to improve defensively or at bat
And Cutch is just getting older
They have one player here, Reynolds. But he’s not anything approaching superstar status.
It’s only been a few games but it’s been a rough ride
Paul-I will say something about Valdez though.
That guy was hustling all the way to third base yesterday.
It is great to see a young player who truly appreciates the fact that he is a big leaguer and is doing as much as he can to stay that way.