The Pirates finalized their Opening Day pitching decisions, with Jason Mackey of MLB.com covering the notable details. Carmen Mlodzinski will get a rotation spot while José Urquidy and Hunter Barco will start the season in the bullpen and Mike Clevinger will head to Triple-A. Alex Stumpf reports that Clevinger had an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal but it appears that didn’t lead to a roster spot with any of the 30 clubs in the league.
The Bucs went into the winter with loads of pitching and used that to bolster their position player group. They included Mike Burrows in the three-team trade that netted them Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum, as well as reliever Mason Montgomery. They flipped Johan Oviedo to the Red Sox in a five-player trade, with the headliner for the Bucs being outfielder Jhostynxon García. They still have a strong front four consisting of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. By the end of camp, Mlodzinski, Urquidy, Barco and Clevinger appeared to be battling for the final spot.
Mlodzinski enters the season with a 3.25 earned run average in 185 2/3 innings as a swingman. He has struck out 21.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.2% clip, both fairly average marks. His 47.1% ground ball rate is a few ticks north of par.
There seems to be some belief he could find a new gear. Mlodzinski tells Mackey that he’s feeling much better now compared to a year ago thanks to the development of his splitter and curveball. He threw both of those pitches at the big league level for the first time last year. It’s hoped that the more diverse arsenal can help him find more success as he turns a lineup over. Mlodzinski has allowed a line of .214/.281/.294 when facing a lineup for the first time as a starter but a massive .381/.422/.607 line the second time through.
For what it’s worth, he had a great camp. Spring performances always need to be taken with a grain of salt but he posted a 2.92 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 56.8% ground ball rate. The Bucs will give him a chance to carry that forward into the regular season.
Jared Jones will be returning from his surgery at some point in the coming months and will need a rotation spot but other injuries will likely pop up between now and then. Mlodzinski does still have an option and could be sent to the minors but that’s also true of Ashcraft, Chandler and Jones. Time will tell how it all shakes out.
For now, there are domino effects for the other guys who were in the mix. Urquidy has had a decent career but missed most of 2024 and 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Bucs gave him a big league deal but he didn’t have a good camp, allowing 11 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings. He’ll seemingly start the season as a long reliever, presumably for mop-up duty.
As for Barco, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him on the Opening Day roster. He has options and is still expected to be a valuable starter in the long run, so there was an argument for having him stretched out in Triple-A.
Mackey suggests his path forward could mirror that of Ashcraft, who tossed 69 2/3 innings in the majors last year and 48 1/3 in the minors. The major league work was split between eight starts and 18 bullpen appearances, most of which were for more than an inning. Ashcraft went into 2025 having never thrown more than 73 innings in a season. He got to 118 last year, between his minor league starts and that big league hybrid role. That should put him in place to jump to something resembling a full starter’s workload in 2026.
Barco got to 102 1/3 innings last year between the majors and minors, a personal high for him. Ideally, he will push that up this year in order to keep building towards a full starter’s workload. For now, that will be in the big league bullpen. He has options and could be sent down for regular Triple-A work at some point or perhaps injuries will open a rotation role in the majors.
As for Clevinger, it’s been a few years since he was an effective starter in the big leagues, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal this offseason. His velocity was up this spring, an encouraging sign, but the results weren’t enough to grab a roster spot. He struck out 25% of batters faced in spring games but also gave out walks at a 16.7% clip and posted a 5.02 ERA.
He’ll presumably be in the Triple-A rotation, staying ready for a potential call-up at some point. The fact that he’s not on the 40-man roster could work against him. Thomas Harrington and Wilber Dotel have 40-man spots and will also be making Triple-A starts while on optional assignment.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Outside of Skenes none of the starters are that good so not sure why you and others are drinking Pirates kool aid. They will be lucky to get third, likely 75 wins.
That is a bad take that will come back to haunt you.
Yup–much to take issue with for the Pirates this year. The rotation isn’t one of them.
@nevet remember
I won’t forget how education has lacked on this site as you are the perfect example of such
Never remember is just another pathetic troll wasting space e in his parents basement.
To even make a post like he did shows his true self. A hole less moron.
And if they are going to use barco like they did Ashcraft,I think its insane. Send him to AAA and get hin ready by all star break for a call up.
Besides barco should start not Carmen. He’s built for long relief. Didn’t they learn anything last year by starting him
They’re going to piggyback Carmen and either Barco or Urquidy so it really doesn’t matter
Carmen thinks that he is a starter.
It was disastrous last year.
He has been a fine long man.
Give him three starts and if the second time through the batting order is that awful start someone else.
Never Remember name is actually Never Know.
Mendoza
..yea like sergeant shultz…I know nutting
Yeah their hitting was historically awful and they upgraded 3 positions and had Horowitz miss time but sure only a 4 win improvement from last year. Plus Griffin will be up sooner rather than later. Unless they have major injuries to key starters I fail to follow your logic.
I’m going 80-83. I’m happy with their additions. It’s entirely possible they’ll do even better than that amount but a lot of things have to fall into place
First off is their starting pitching. A lot of inexperience here. But beyond that, guys like Cruz and Reynolds need to step up this season
I like what I saw from Cruz in spring training and really, I have to think Reynolds is too good of a hitter to have another down year. But the new guys can’t be in a situation where they’re the only ones pulling the load
So 80-83? Are they playing an extra game I am not aware about longer than 162 game season?
WUOT was referring to wins
80-83
Thanks, my friend. Guess I should have been a bit more clear
Gee some people can’t seem to realize that 80-83. Means between 80 and 84 wins. Duh
The-No logic there.
NR is just a troll.
Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler, and Jared Jones would like to have a talk with you.
I would think that somehow, Barco will be joining that group sometime soon
My guess is that the Astros wanted Barco for Paredes and Cherington said “ what part of no don’t you understand?”
I think they’ll use 6 starters for the first few weeks. Skenes, Keller, Ashcraft, Chandler, Mlodzinski, and Barco – with Urquidy piggybacking in there somewhere. Extends the audition a bit into the season. If Barco does well he will be the 5th starter and Mlodzinski will shift to the longer relief role/piggyback. Urquidy is unlikely to do much, and seems likely to be optioned after the first week or two if he doesn’t impress.
tankathon they are not going to be a better team pitching Skenes less. a 6 man rotation is foolish
5 man rotation, but Barco and Urquidy will have regular 2-3 inning outings following Mlod and whichever other starter needs it. Ashcraft and Chandler probably aren’t getting into the 7th very often, as they’ll want to limit innings for both of them. Could also see Mlod and Barco in particular doing an opener thing where one goes through the lineup once and the other is brought in for bulk relief.
The Pirates starting rotation ranked 5th in MLB in 2025 and current Fangraphs projection have them ranked in the top 3, even #1 in baseball in 2026. Careful to not let the facts hit you on the way out.
I would say if healthy they will be in the top five.
I’m a pirates fan and I think that might be too generous. I think they would need over 300 combined innings from Ashcraft and Chandler for them to be that good which is simply too much to ask. Ashcraft might be able to let it rip a bit more because he’s older but Chandler will be handled with care and racks up pitches quickly. All comes down to Jared Jones coming back healthy by midseason.
Agree 100%
I think the starting staff is very promising but it’s not the modern version of the Maddux-led Braves staff yet.
A lot of promising young pitchers who are going to be faced with a lot of innings in a long season.
Barco. Jones. Harrington. Maybe others.
I tend to think that beyond Skenes and Keller, it may be a fluid situation where starters are concerned
I agree. I’ve seen teams with nasty young pitching not progress the way people would think. That’s just how it happens. The best part about the team this season is they have so many more options that if 1-2 guys don’t work out, the sky isn’t falling. And they have a lineup where they can pencil 7 of them in every day and not have to mix and match. And the depth options can actually start if needed.
@holecamels Seattle Mariners was in the similar situation in 2023 before that rotation opened many eyes. Pittsburgh Pirates are in the same position with their own rotation. I think they can hit 84 wins, 90 if everything goes exactly right. This includes injuries that occur and who steps up to contribute, growth of every player new and old, and top an 5 pitching in both bullpen and rotation. Team ERA under 4.25 would be critical to the Pirates success. 4 runs per game allowed (statically speaking), could match or be slightly lower than the Pirates offensive run production. I think they could score average of 4-5 runs per night. Ozuna, Lowe, Ohearn, and Mangum are nice additions. While Reynolds, Horwitz, and Cruz has no excuse for another sluggish offensive season. Any meaningful production from Davis, Triolo, and Gonzales, could create another run or two per game. Like I said, 90 wins are possible if everything goes exactly right. Logically, 84 wins seems reasonable
Clevinger finds himself back on the Indians.
Surprised Skenes made it. Hopefully he will show what he’s made of
This is my favorite part of this team.
BC screwed up with the Urquidy ML contract. Other than that he did pretty solid this off season.
Ashcraft looks like a man on a mission, and will surprise a lot of people.
Hard to screw up 1.5m If he stinks they just get rid of him. Looked pretty good as a reliever.
I agree that the money wasn’t the screwup as much as a 40 man spot. For that price, I’m sure he could’ve been a NRI.
40 man spot isn’t anything.
The Pirates overall roster is much improved this year, but they still have a few 40 man spots I wouldn’t lose sleep over freeing up.
Last year there were like 10.
People on here can say what they want about the Pirates. These guys are going to surprise a lot of people. I’m talking about playoffs. Pirates Tigers World Series this year wouldn’t surprise me at all. I’m sure I’m gonna be destroyed for saying this but I believe it. I’m not a Pirates fan but there are a lot of good pieces on this team. Tigers as well.
That would be wonderful and hopefully a repeat of the 1909 World Series when two of the top ten greatest players of all time played against each other.
But unfortunately it will not happen.
We will talk about this in October.
Bookmarking this for October. Don’t bail and delete this.
Johnsonville-I’ll be here and I’m serious about this. I think the Pirates have the best team they’ve had in a very long time. I won’t go back on my word.
Shadow- With all due respect the phrase “ best team in a long time” just means that a long time is 11 years,and it is not difficult to meet that criterion with the Pirates teams since then.
Mendoza-thank you for letting me know that you’re smarter than me and making more of my comment than what I ever thought was necessary. You fit in with most of the other comments around here.
Thank you for looking down on the rest of us as we all know that you are the smartest poster here.
We appreciate you allowing us to take part on this site.
Just because someone disagrees with the smartest poster on the site does not mean that they are the scum of the earth.
That is what my comment meant and you make a big deal of it.
It is clear that you are posting from emotion and not using the brain that you were hopefully given at birth.
What is your stupid retort to that Shadowpartner?
It has nothing to do with me thinking that I am smarter than you it has everything to do with you disagreeing with what I and others have said.
Who is the one who thinks that he is smarter than the rest of us?
Who is the one taking exception to others with fair assessments of the Pirates?
My only regret is that I should not have shown you any benefit of the doubt and included the phrase “with all due respect”.
I will stop using that with you.
Playoffs? Playoffs?
I can understand Mlod’s desire to start – that’s where the big bucks are. But you have to be able to turn the lineup over, a skill that has eluded him so far. Clevinger looked good in spring, would rather have him on the team than Urquidy but Urquidy is making big league dough so he stays. Kelly has hinted that there will be some piggybacking early on.
Carmen fails to pitch effectively after the lineup goes through 3+ innings
He’s more effective as a long reliever
Every single team passed on Clevinger for their team. Really don’t think that would have been the case with Urquidy. Easy decision as was Mlod as 5th starter. He looks good. Pirates don’t give a it what he wants, they are the ones who wanted him as a starter this year.
He will be out of the rotation after three games.
Looking good in ST means next to nothing taking into account the hitters that he was facing.
Urquidy signing was largely unnecessary but in hindsight, so was the Soto signing, really
They have Montgomery now and although Barco has been penciled in for the pen, I’m betting that at some point he pushes Mlodzinski for that spot
The fifth starter might be a fluid situation honestly along with some guys missing starts here and there.
Maybe they think Soto is filthy and can be a dominant reliever but I wish they would have not signed him and Uriquidy and maybe brought in a veteran starter or a better reliever?
You always will need arms for the BP, and Soto is a great get IMO. If the starters on average go 5-6 innings, you really only need to cover the 7-8 depending on rest days with Soto and Santana slated for the 8-9.
For now Urquidy looks to be the mop up guy.
I think that Cherington is being wise in having a backup closer in Soto.
This is analogous to having Chapman.
Closers can go south quickly.Look at what happened to Bednar in 2024.
Closers can also get hurt.
I have never been a big Soto fan but at least Cherington saw the need and signed someone.
I wish they hadn’t just given Bednar away, especially in light of their decision to spend a little more this off season.
And we can agree to disagree about Chapman again. My thinking was that at $10M it was an extreme overpay to have two closers on a team not slated to reach .500
But your point is well taken about relief arms
I understand your point about having a $10M closer backup plan for a 75 win team.
What that showed me though is that they determined to spend the money that had been set aside for another starter.To me that meant that they would start spending money.
Chapman was lights out last year with Boston.I think that he is a HOF pitcher.Maybe Nutting actually began thinking about having a better team at that point in time.
He is the one who fired Shelton so maybe he finally got tired of losing too.
I think that they did not give Bednar away for nothing but I think that they gave up on last season after the bad start and would have traded him this off season.He becomes a free agent next year and that is what the Pirates and other small market teams have to do.
I do think that they could have received more for him than what they did though.Cherington does not have a good track record at developing lower lever hitters.
Maybe they really like Flores, but it just seems like even if he can hit, where does he play? Trading Bednar who turned it back on to being elite, then going all-in and paying an inferior reliever just as much is odd. There is always a market for relievers, even if they kept him and traded him this deadline. Oh well, past is the past, this is still the best group in a very long time they came into the season with and Nutting actually seems tired of losing and coaxed BC into making some win now moves while still keeping the future intact.
I’ll say it again though some will disagree. The single most important thing that happened in the final days of the season last year was Skenes saying he wanted to play for a winner here. It explains the reversal of course after their deadline desls—and let’s be real, the Bednar trade was a salary dump and nothing more.
Yes, Cutch echoed those feelings but Skenes chirping perhaps woke Nutting up.
It may have been a salary dump or maybe Cherington did not see the future and see Nutting actually spending money.
You may be right about Skenes but Cherington may be in the same boat as the rest of us in not being totally convinced that Nutting would start spending the money unless the team had already proven that it could win.
I think that Flores can become a good hitter but unless he goes to the same personal coaches that Henry Davis went to he may never become a good catcher.
I haven’t seen anything out of Flores that makes me think he can rise above their current catching group, and that’s really saying something
The trades at the deadline were reflective of the idea that they were gonna dump salary again. And as the season was winding down, you heard names like Keller and Reynolds being shopped. Perhaps even Cruz
Then Skenes piped up. And Cutch.
I don’t know if the idea was to placate Skenes to the point that somehow they might endear themselves to him as big pay days are ahead or something else. But to me, he established himself as the leader of this team and ownership responded in kind
That may very well be true.
The last real clubhouse leader that they had was evidently Carlos Santana.
I think that if Skenes was the impetus then perhaps Nutting realized that they could have a reasonably good team at this point.I think that if Cutch said something it may have had as much to do with him wanting a position and playing the outfield than anything else.
It also meant that the Pirates were essentially a leaderless clubhouse team if a second year player no matter how good he was had to speak up.
I was originally not a fan of Mlod starting but the team knows more about him than us. I read an article where he had a new pitch mix that he tinkered with last season as well where he did much better. It looks like Uriqidy made the roster by the skin of his teeth and will be on a short leash. I am just worried that if the bullpen fails, they will need 1-2 good long men.
You’re right, of course.
I look at Mlodzinski much like I looked at Priester when he was here. As Old Buc Fan and TheMan3 made note of, a kid who really struggled to go more than three innings.
But Priester sure benefitted from having a new pitching coach. Maybe the same will be the case for Mlodzinski
Barco is left handed. Pirates were saying all the time they needed a lefty pitcher. Tried trading for one. Now the season starts and they put Carmen in the rotation and barco in the pen. Makes absolutely no sense.
They may be limiting Barco’s innings and trying to ease him into the MLs.
A lot hinges on when Jones comes back.
One poster last year said that he should come back as a reliever to limit the stress on his arm.
They may very well have Barco as a starter by mid season and Jones coming back into the bullpen.Carmen by then will be back there too.
Jared Jones at the back end of the bullpen with his fastball/slider combo would be deadly. An underapprecciated aspect of the mid 2010’s teams that made the playoffs was Tony Watson, Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli effectively ending games after 6 innings. Then Joel Hanrahan stepped up to replace Grilli. Soto, Dennis Santana and Jones could potentially replicate that setup. But realistically long term Jones should start.
I might be in the minority with this opinion but I think Mlodzinski could be a really good late inning reliever someday. He doesn’t really have enough swing and miss stuff to lock down a closer role but if he just has to let it rip for one inning and mix in some offspeed stuff to keep guys off his fastball I think he’d be more effective than a long relief/swing man role.
It was Hanrahan then Grilli then Melancon.
Jones is a starter but the point is he may not be big enough to last the rigors of starting pitching even though they only go 5 or 6 innings now.
Carmen seems to be good the first time through the order and the long man now is a very important position as it eliminates at least one reliever from having to pitch.