The Pirates are actively pursuing bullpen help, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. A source tells Rosenthal that just about every club is looking for additions in that department but the Bucs are being more aggressive than most.
It’s an understandable pursuit for Pittsburgh. The club has been rebuilding for many years but is making a more serious run at contention this year. The results so far are fairly encouraging, as they are 33-29 and currently in possession of a Wild Card spot.
That is thanks in part to a resurgent offense, something that MLBTR’s Leo Morgenstern covered earlier this week. In the rotation, they have a solid group consisting of Paul Skenes, Braxton Ashcraft, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones and Bubba Chandler. The starting depth is strong enough that Carmen Mlodzinski got bumped out, much to his chagrin.
The relief corps, however, is a relative weak spot. Pittsburgh relievers have a collective 4.32 earned run average, which puts them 19th out of the 30 clubs in the league. Their 23.8% strikeout rate is decent, putting them 11th, but their 11.2% walk rate is better than just seven other clubs and their 39.5% ground ball rate puts them ahead of just six teams.
Dennis Santana was one of the club’s best relievers last year, with a 2.18 ERA. He was probably a bit lucky to have that figure, as he had a .211 batting average on balls in play and 80.7% strand rate. His 3.21 FIP and 3.68 SIERA suggested a bit of regression was coming but his ERA has shot way up to 5.47 this year. Gregory Soto has taken over the closer’s role and has a 2.86 ERA on the year but he has gotten some help from a .194 BABIP and just 3.6% of his fly balls clearing the fence. Evan Sisk and Wilber Dotel have ERAs barely above 1.00. Despite strong underlying numbers, they have gotten some luck and can’t maintain ERAs quite that good. On the other end of the spectrum, Mason Montgomery and Yohan Ramírez have ERAs near 5.00 despite deserving better.
It’s not an awful group but all contenders generally look for bullpen help before the trade deadline. For the Pirates, since they have a strong rotation and a lineup that is performing well, it’s not at all a surprise that the bullpen would be a focus.
It may be hard to pull off a notable deal in the short term, however. The trade deadline is still almost two months away, falling on August 3rd this year. A number of American League teams are struggling but none of them are really buried in the standings since the poor results are so widespread. The Athletics currently have the final Wild Card spot even though they have a 30-31 record. The Angels are in the basement with a 24-39 record but are only seven games back of the A’s. The National League is a bit stronger but, again, very few teams would consider themselves out of it. The Giants and the Rockies are the only N.L. teams more than six games out of a playoff spot.
Even if there are some teams who consider themselves cooked, they may not want to make a trade right now. Clubs in buyer position tend to get more aggressive as the deadline approaches, so a team in seller position might hold and try to drum up frenzied bidding later on in the season.
A great many relievers around the game could be imagined as potential trade candidates, so it’s almost pointless to wonder who the Bucs could be looking at right now. That being said, perhaps the most obvious relief trade candidate at the moment is Antonio Senzatela. He is 31 years old, is playing for a rebuilding Rockies club and is an impending free agent. His deal has a $14MM club option but it’s hard to see that being picked up. He has already been connected to the Padres in a trade rumor.
A starter for most of his career, Senzatela missed most of 2023 and 2024 due to Tommy John surgery and struggled badly in 2025. He got moved to the bullpen last year and finished the season with a 6.65 ERA. This year, he has a 1.30 ERA in 34 2/3 relief innings. His four-seamer velocity has ticked up to 97.3 miles per hour after being at 94.9 mph last year. His 20% strikeout rate isn’t strong but he is only walking 7.7% of batters faced and is inducing grounders at a 43.5% clip.
His .209 BABIP and 89% strand rate are helping him out but his 3.30 FIP and 3.86 SIERA point to him being capable of good results even with neutral luck. He’s also pitching more than two innings per outing, with his 34 2/3 innings coming in 17 appearances. Of course, that’s just one of dozens of relievers who could be on the market in the coming months. Individual and team performances will shake up the field over the next few weeks.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Definitely a smart move the offense has been great a few better relievers and they could make a nice playoff run this year.
It’s going to be tough but this is the main and you can argue only pressing issue with the club. However, every club wants bullpen help, even the Padres who have probably 5-6 studs.
Sentenzela, Halvorson or Herget would fit.
Mets have a few interesting arms. Raley, Brazoban or even Weaver? But they’re creeping back in.
Marlins always sell regardless of record. Fairbanks has been bad but Bender or someone else?? I don’t want Jansen from Detroit.
I wouldn’t be opposed to another starting pitcher either.
Hasn’t Senzetela been lucky with his stats this year?
Yeah, his babip is quite low but sometimes there’s a reason for that and it’s not impossible to sustain most of the season. The pitchers on the staff with high babip are terrible pitchers, guys like Freeland and Lorenzen who throw meatballs.
Should make a move for Chapman if Red Sox are ready to call it a year. Maybe the Padres could surrender one of their arms for the right pieces.
Pirates roster is built, intentionally or not, for playoff baseball IMHO. Strong offense and strong at the top of the rotation. Can you imagine potentially having to face Paul Skenes three times in a 7-game series. If the Tigers had this kind of offense last year behind Skubal they could’ve won it all IMHO.
I hope they all stay healthy and tough because I think they can make a nice run this year.
Agreed. This is the best offense I ever seen them have since I didn’t watch until post-Leyland era. And it still seems like they can hit another gear because they arent great with RISP.
No MVP player like Cutch but you can argue the lineup only has one hole, at catcher, which Endy Rodriguez may play himself into the full time job. Compared to the years they only had 1-2 good players and few if any 20 home run bats.
Pay for chapman now.
Soto, chapman as left handers and mlodzinski and Santana as roght handers is a good back 4.
Maybe but that’s quite a lefty heavy pen with still no reliable righty unless it’s Mlod. Santana is a shell of himself and may be broken.
What a surprise.
Reds need to be pursuing bullpen upgrades too. Like now.
I think that 11-9 loss to the Astros last night was the last straw for the Pirates. If so, good.
As a Clemente and Kiner fan I will pull hard for the Bucs.
Maybe reach out to Felipe Vazquez; swing a deal with the California Penal League.
They’re winning in spite of the owner.
the payroll was increased to $100 million dollars this year, the first time in their history
He can’t be seen as cheap as a result
Years past, definitely
The owner did his part this year. It will be tough to keep these guys together but praying the new cba can help a bit l. GM needs to not be afraid of making deals. Seems like whenever they trade for actual mlb guys it works out and when they trade their vets for prospects they get nothing.
it didn’t work out when they traded for Miami’s De La Cruz two years ago
He stunk once he came here
True. I try to forget about that. Don’t think they lost anything though. People seem to think you need to trade top prospects for ok players, you don’t. A lot of times just basic organizational filler. Might end up losing a guy who becomes something but really a roll of the dice.
In spite of? The Indians in the Major League movie was in spite of.
For a MLB Franchise that was in the red just a year or two ago and probably close too now… In spite of is definitely the wrong phrase.
The Ownership seems to let BC buy what he wants with the money the franchise HAS to spend on the MLB Team. BC hasn’t been perfect but this year it has mostly worked.
Damn, can we have just one conversation about baseball without someone bringing up the owner. It’s so old, tiring and unoriginal.
Ok, John, sorry for making it personal.
Some of you people pay more attention to owners and money than the actual game and it’s just real weird.
I don’t know about anyone else but I watch and follow baseball to get away from the politics of the world. That s is exhausting enough as is, but people like you just have to bring it with you everywhere including here.
Giants will surely drop out soon enough, Henteges would surely be available, Foley, if he returns to the majors and throws well would be expendable, would move Miller if the right offer was there, Gage as well. Exciting to see the Pirates contend again, luckily they won’t have to face prime MadBum in the wild card 😅
The three year run the Bucs made the wild card they faced MadBum and Jake Arrieta at the top of their games in a one-and-done scenario. That Cueto game was absolutely magical though.
They can get Faucher or Tyler Phillips from the Marlins. Even Bender would be an upgrade. Fairbanks is damaged goods and a waste of time.
Exactly what I was thinking. Not sure what you’d want from the Pirates, maybe just a 15-30 ranked prospect and maybe someone on the fringe of the roster.
Do you want Bryan Abreu
Wow… just checked his stats on FG. He must be injured or developed the yips, right?
No idea. All I know is that I do not want him in leverage situations or even in the bullpen.
If they don’t bring in a better closer than Soto, they’re going to regret it at some point.
probably going to need to hope for the best with waiver wire
Lynch from KC and Yates with Angels are candidates from obvious sellers.
The Royals will think they’re in it.
Lange has been good for the Royals too.
Ashcraft has been a huge plus for the Bucs.
As I watch them play, screw the bull pen. Keep it really exciting and throw the kitchen sink and get Yordan. He’s the best hitter on the planet.
If they can get him while still keeping Seth Hernandez somehow, I would do what it takes.
They would have to give him up lol
Need a manager upgrade also.
Santana used to live by getting chases on his slider. They aren’t chasing anymore. Rookie Brandan Bidois is the most reliable righty left in the pen at this point, unless they move Dotel or CMlod to short relief instead of 3-4 inning piggyback pitchers. Something has to give soon, can’t have Soto as the only reliable high leverage reliever (and he’s a career 3-4 ERA setup guy, not a “proven closer”.
If they believe in Endy, I think Bart could be used in a trade for a reliever. Other than that they have to offer prospects and they have some guys with decent potential, especially some guys in high A. Given the volatility of relievers, I don’t see them going after a big name closer.
Bart is a perfect candidate for trade bait, though Davis isn’t exactly a proven hitter yet either but he has a more accurate arm than Bart
Get a reliever now if they can ! They gave away 6-8 games minimum because of the pen ! Can’t afford to give away many more between now & the trading deadline. Chapman would be a good get & another righty.
Boston would probably want more than the Bucs would be willing to give up for Chapman
15 teams with a winning record.
Five teams in the AL are over 500
10 teams in the NL are over 500
five of those teams are in the NL Central.
There are five teams in MLB with more wins than the pirates.
There are lots of reasons this can happen, i just find it interesting.
Swing a big deal with Miami.
Headlined by Liam Hicks with Bachar/Bender.
Trade Endy, Sisk, prospect(s)
Could also try to go get Aroldis Chapman.
Endy has more potential than Davis who’s had 4 years to prove he’s a major league hitter and has failed miserably
Sisk is one of our best bullpen arms. Trade Ramirez or Santana or both
Don’t think they’d want Endy. They seem to be wanting Mack to stick at catcher and Hicks can backup or DH. Maybe Ramirez works his way back.
Sisk is basically as good as those two.
Chico Esquela is looking for work
Mets might want too much for Chico
Keller is a sunk cost as a starter – no team is going to want to take on that salary at the deadline.
Let’s have him sent to the ‘pen and see if he can close games out. Mlod is a much better starting pitcher than him at this point and he’s still stretched out.
While I agree that Keller should be yanked from the rotation, the offense was working great until Kelly again changed the lineup
Horowitz has drawn more walks than he has struck out, so why take him out of the lead off slot in the lineup?
O’Hearn didn’t start in last night’s game, his 3rd game off since returning from the IL
Garcia has yet to show that he can hit major league pitching but he was in the starting lineup
They managed only 6 hits last night, Cruz was back to his normal form, swinging at pitches no where close to the plate
Kelly needs to stop changing the lineup especially when the lineup that works is being messed with