After years of speculation, the Pirates traded their closer at this past summer’s deadline. David Bednar was shipped off to the Bronx for a three-player package headlined by catching prospect Rafael Flores. That opened the ninth inning for breakout setup man Dennis Santana, who got an extended run as a closer for the first time in his career.
Santana has been a revelation since the Pirates claimed him off waivers from the Yankees in June 2024. The Dominican-born righty tossed 44 1/3 innings of 2.44 ERA ball down the stretch that year, earning some stability with the fifth team of his big league career. He began this season in a setup role, then briefly took over as closer when Bednar’s early-season struggles got him demoted to Triple-A. Bednar was back in the ninth by the end of April, but the closer role became Santana’s for good after the deadline.
The various roles didn’t slow him down. The 29-year-old Santana turned in 70 1/3 frames with a career-best 2.18 earned run average. He recorded 16 saves and 12 holds while only relinquishing three leads all season. Santana had a less impressive 3.75 ERA after the trade deadline, yet that’s mostly attributable to a five-run blowup at Coors Field on August 1. He worked to a 1.90 ERA while holding opponents to a .152/.236/.291 slash in 23 appearances after that.
Santana doesn’t have the usual closer profile. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced, right around the league average for big league relievers. His 94.7 MPH average fastball speed is fine but not exceptional for a late-inning arm. Santana’s wipeout slider is his bread-and-butter offering, a pitch that gets enough whiffs that teams could project his strikeout rate to climb by a couple percentage points. He’s never going to be Mason Miller, though, and most clubs would probably project Santana more as the second or third-best arm in a contending bullpen.
Pittsburgh received trade interest in Santana at the deadline. The Phillies were the only team specifically known to have checked in, but it stands to reason the Bucs heard from at least a handful of clubs. They clearly didn’t find an offer to their liking. They’re now down to their final season of contractual control. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Santana for a $3.4MM salary that easily fits within the budget of any team, even one that runs payrolls as low as the Bucs do.
The Pirates aren’t intentionally rebuilding, but they’re coming off a 71-91 season that represented a step back from their consecutive 76-win campaigns before that. Should the Pirates view this offseason as a sell-high opportunity while letting Isaac Mattson, Justin Lawrence and Carmen Mlodzinski compete for the ninth? Will they?
Weigh in on our latest poll.
At some point the Pirates have to try to compete….right? Right? RIGHT?
They have the young pitching to take a big step forward, but they’ll never be a playoff team in the NL unless they find a few good bats. Cruz could be one, but even if he starts fulfilling his potential the lineup is still short.
At some point they have to or they will lose all fan interest. Luckily Skenes and now Bubba are keeping fans around. But they have to do something with the position players. Their rotation looks to have some dominant/good pitchers but they need runs. It’s time to open up the checkbook and see what you can get. Give the fans something to latch on to
Not true. The Pirates recently had 20 below .500 seasons in a row and the fans still stuck around. Most fans are not that fickle. If they see the team trying to compete, even if they are not successful, the fans will support them. It is why I remain a Rockies fan. They may suck, but at least they keep trying.
We have an owner who is not interested in winning.
The attendance statistics over the past decade or two ((with a couple of outlier years) don’t support your comment. The Pirates could have a little more money to spend if the fans actually went to games at league average attendance rates. It’s true of any small to medium market; to help your team financially, you have to go to games. And yes, gate receipts are a fraction of team revenues, but they can make a difference at the margins.
I would think they are planning on it. They held onto Mitch Keller at the deadline and a couple of their hitters finally started to emerge, particularly 1B Spencer Horwitz and 3B Jared Trillo.
If veterans like Brian Reynolds and O’Neil Cruz return to form, then this could definitely be an mid to high 80 win team
Cruz is only a league average bitter at best who has no defensive value, he’s not going to propel this team to 80 wins alone and Reynolds is probably starting his decline
Yeah the pirates have to compete. That’s why they should be shopping relief pitchers. Everyone was saying how pirates needed pitching recently, now they need hitting. That’s the volatility between years but relief pitchers are even worse.
Movevthe high risk relievers for high risk prospects. That’s how the Rays keep winning year after year
Are they getting back someone who they can plug in immediately on their mlb roster? Probably not so I’d say no. If he’s good he’ll be in much demand come trade deadline.
At the deadline unless they can get a decent high minors position player for him this off-season
Phillies should be all over him this off season if available just like they were doing the trade deadline
Its been 6 days since a Pirates article, so its post-a-dumb-question time
Only trade him for a quality bat. If not keep him. The pirates have a young staff of starters and have some wicked young arms in the pen. I think a good free agent signing would be Cody Bellinger,only 30. Probably 4 years at 100 million would do it. And by trading Keller they would be saving 50 million. Cherrington can’t screw this off season up.
yeah, Nutting will agree to a 4 year contract worth $100 million
Cherington will once again search the dumpster for their next worthless player
Maybe it’s just time to torpedo this once great ship and put it to the bottom. As a 53 year pirate fan, I cannot put up with nutting and cherrington. Watching them destroy the pirates. Now MLB will never do anything about the dismal state of the pirates. It might just be time to unplug the nightmare of the last 20 years.
Btc-Ben is 0 for 6 in off seasons.
His % to win this one is the same.
They should. He has no track record of being this good
Should they? No. Will they? If he’s due to make more than minimum wage than expect Nutting to ship him out
Don’t need a closer if you seldom have a lead in the 9th
I agree figuratively and have no comment on literally
Inexpensive and competent closer. No other pitcher with 9th inning experience that I would trust to close on this roster.
Need him to at least get 10 wins for Skenes again.
I don’t trust Ben Cherington to receive anything of value in any trade, especially offense.
Keep him.
At some point the Pirates actually have to try to win.
Cherington would screw up the trade.
They do not have another closer ready.
Nothing worse than losing the game in the ninth inning.
this is tge best hes ever looked, that bum doesn’t have much value. Pitt is better off keeping him
I’ve watched Santana pitch, he is one of the worst in the game. Blew so many games for the Mets in his short stint with the team. He will walk everyone
He USED TO walk “everyone”. Santana has dramatically cut back on his walks the past two seasons.
He prob won’t fetch as much on the open market, having only limited controllable time remaining. Dollar for dollar, you’d end up with a hitter like Tommy Pham, either in terms of cost or production. And leaving the closer spot open to competition or by committee to start the season could leave the Bucs dead in the water by Mother’s Day. Prob best to keep him, pay him and bench him if he can’t hold down the 9th.
Keller should be swapped for a similar contract with a prospect to sweeten the deal. Wealthy teams in terms of talent or money didn’t need him at the trade deadline, his value didn’t increase since then. They’re shelling that dough out to either him or someone with similar years/money remaining. Look for a classic baseball trade with a rebuilding team.
They need offense that isn’t a negative at the plate. If they can get a league average bat then trade him.