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Dodgers Activate Shohei Ohtani, Designate Eddie Rosario For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced this morning that they have designated outfielder Eddie Rosario for assignment. The move comes in order to create a roster spot for Shohei Ohtani, who is returning to the club from the paternity list after he and his wife announced the birth of their daughter yesterday on social media.

Rosario, 33, always figured to be a temporary addition to the Dodgers roster. Now a veteran of 11 MLB seasons, Rosario spent the first portion of his MLB career as an effective and reliable corner bat for the Twins. He slashed .277/.310/.478 across 697 games in a Twins uniform, good for a 106 wRC+ that jumped up to 112 when looking only at his final four seasons with the team. During that stretch from 2017 to 2020, Rosario showed consistent 25-homer power and paired it with an impressively low 16.5% strikeout rate. That allowed him to offer a valuable blend of power and contact.

In the years since then, however, Rosario’s been an at times solid but largely inconsistent hitter. Playing for Cleveland, Atlanta, and D.C. from 2021 to 2024, Rosario slashed just .231/.278/.396 (82 wRC+) overall as his strikeout rate climbed to 21.6% while his power declined noticeably. The 2021 and ’23 seasons saw Rosario play at a roughly league average level overall with a 100 wRC+ in both seasons, with flashes of 20-homer pop making him a capable hitter despite the increased strikeout rate. 2022 saw him struggle badly at the plate (63 wRC+) due to vision problems that were ultimately corrected, while his problems at the dish (45 wRC+) in 2024 came in spite of him being generally healthy.

That lackluster performance was enough to force Rosario to take a minor league deal with the Dodgers this winter, and he didn’t make the roster out of camp due to Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto, and Ohtani blocking him in the outfield corners and at DH. Rosario was selected to the roster earlier this week to replace Ohtani in the lineup while he went on the paternity list. His brief stay in the majors this year saw him hit just .250/.250/.250 with a 41 wRC+, but it should be noted that he didn’t record a single strikeout and made several loud outs during his extremely brief, two-game trip back up to the majors. Going forward, the Dodgers will have one week to either trade Rosario or place him on waivers, where he could be claimed by any club. If he goes unclaimed, Rosario will have the choice to either accept an outright assignment back to Triple-A with the Dodgers or else head to free agency and look for a better opportunity elsewhere.

As for Ohtani, the reigning NL MVP rejoins a Dodgers club that suffered a frustrating walk-off loss to the Rangers last night. Prior to his trip to the paternity list, Ohtani was excellent as ever with a .288/.380/.550 slash line across 20 games and 92 plate appearances this year, with six home runs and five stolen bases. Needless to say, the superstar figures to reclaim his spot atop the Dodgers’ lineup as their everyday DH now that he’s back with the club.

Reds Select Randy Wynne

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The Reds announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Randy Wynne. Wynne is being brought in to replace righty Carson Spiers, who is headed to the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement. No 40-man roster move was necessary to accommodate the addition of Wynne, though the Reds’ 40-man roster is now full.

Wynne, 32, was signed by the Reds out of the independent Frontier League back in 2019. He’s been working his way through the Reds organization ever since, climbing the minor league ladder and even getting a brief call-up to the majors back in 2023. He surrendered one run in 2 1/3 frames during his lone big league outing and was outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster not long after. Despite that relatively brief stint in the majors, Wynne has remained in the Reds organization as a swingman at Triple-A. He’s done fairly well for himself there in recent years, with a 4.16 ERA in 93 innings last season and a 3.06 ERA across his first four starts of the 2025 campaign.

He’ll take the vacated roster spot of Spiers, who threw 94 pitches yesterday over four innings of relief. The righty has a 6.08 ERA across 13 1/3 innings this year, his third season as a swing man for the Reds. Spiers’s work on the mound for Cincinnati has generally been serviceable but below-average overall, with most of those innings coming last season when he threw 90 2/3 frames of 5.46 ERA ball split between ten starts and 12 relief appearances. The severity of Spiers’s injury is not yet known, but he’ll miss at least the next two weeks as he nurses the injury.

The Reds are unlikely to need Wynne as a rotation piece as presently constructed given that Nick Lodolo should be back from the paternity list soon, meaning he’s likely to fill a similar long relief role to the one Spiers was slated for. It wouldn’t be a shock if the righty’s first appearance came today, given that reliever Brent Suter has been announced as today’s starter. Suter has looked solid this year with a 2.70 ERA despite a 4.52 FIP, but he last logged significant time as a starter back in 2018 and has maxed out at two innings to this point in the 2025 campaign. Given that Wynne is stretched out as a starter, it would make sense if the team’s plan against the Orioles today is for Suter to throw an inning or two before Wynne takes over as a bulk reliever.

Ryan McBroom Signs With KBO’s SSG Landers

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The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed former big league outfielder Ryan McBroom, as noted by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO. McBroom is set to make $75K while he serves as an injury replacement for outfielder Guillermo Heredia. Heredia is sidelined by an infection that’s expected to keep him out of action for at least the next six weeks. Typically, KBO teams can roster only three foreign players, but the league has an exception to that rule for players tasked with temporarily replacing a foreign player who suffered an injury that will keep them out of action for six weeks or longer. McBroom is joining SSG under this exception, and once Heredia is healthy and ready to return he’ll either need to be removed from the roster and placed on waivers or permanently replace one of the club’s other foreign players.

McBroom, 33, was a 15th-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2015 who made it to the majors with the Royals during the 2019 season. He ultimately played just 66 games in the majors across parts of three seasons, though he did feature prominently on Kansas City’s bench during the shortened 2020 season. That was the best campaign of his career in some ways; while he hit just .247 with a .282 on-base percentage, he slugged six homers and three doubles in just 85 trips to the plate while backing up Alex Gordon and Hunter Dozier in left field and at first base.

Overall, McBroom hit a roughly league average .268/.322/.427 in 177 trips to the plate in the majors before being released by the Royals in November of 2021 to pursue a career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. McBroom signed on with NPB’s Hiroshima Carp for the 2022 season and ultimately spent two seasons with the club. While he hit an impressive .272/.352/.442 in 128 games during his first year of NPB play, 2023 did not go nearly as well. He scuffled to a subpar .221/.305/.354 line across 70 games before returning to the United States for the 2024 season to play in the independent Atlantic League for the Long Island Ducks. McBroom excelled in indy ball across 88 games, hitting .268/.376/.497 with 19 homers and 15 doubles in just 375 plate appearances.

That strong work with the Ducks seems to have caught the attention of SSG, and now McBroom will get the opportunity to prove himself in the KBO for at least the next six weeks. If he hits well enough, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the outfielder stick around in Korea, whether that ends up being with the Landers or a different KBO club that’s willing to part with one of its current foreign players in order to roster McBroom.

Justin Steele Undergoes UCL Revision Surgery

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The Cubs lost ace southpaw Justin Steele for the year last week when it was announced he’d need season-ending elbow surgery, but Steele didn’t actually go under the knife until Friday. Prior to today’s game against the Diamondbacks, manager Craig Counsell updated reporters (including MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian) on Steele’s status post-surgery and offered some positive news for fans in Chicago. Bastian notes that the Cubs described Steele’s procedure as a “revision repair” of the UCL in his left elbow. That’s a less serious procedure than Tommy John surgery, which entirely replaces the UCL. Counsell suggested that the initial timeline for Steele’s return to action is roughly one year, which would suggest that he can be expected back on the mound fairly early into the 2026 season.

It’s great news for the Cubs and Steele, particularly because Steele already had Tommy John surgery early in his career when he was still a prospect. Second Tommy John surgeries typically come with a rehab on the longer side of the surgery’s typical 12-to-18 month recovery timeline, and occasionally require an even longer layoff. Had Steele required full Tommy John surgery, it wouldn’t have been a shock to see Steele not take a big league mound again until the final weeks of the 2026 season, as was the case for Jacob deGrom when he returned from his second Tommy John surgery last September after nearly 17 months spent rehabbing.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and the Cubs will be able to plan for the 2026 campaign with a reasonable expectation that Steele will be a big part of their rotation mix next year, as was the case for the Braves after Spencer Strider underwent an internal brace procedure early in the 2024 season that came with a similar one-year timetable. Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, and Dylan Cease are among a handful of front-of-the-rotation arms who figure to be highly sought after this winter, but an early 2026 target for Steele could make the Cubs less inclined to get involved in the markets for those pitchers, especially if they decide to commit their free agent dollars to a pursuit of a long-term deal with star outfielder Kyle Tucker.

While the Cubs can expect Steele to pitch for the club again in 2026, the hit to their short-term rotation depth could still lead them to pursue pitching help this summer. The Cubs appear focused on internal solutions for the time being, and Colin Rea has held his own impressively since subbing in for Steele after opening the year in the bullpen, with effective (although brief) starts against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks during which he’s surrendered just two runs with ten strikeouts against one walk across 8 1/3 innings of work. That sensational production can’t be expected to last forever, but with top pitching prospect Cade Horton striking out 37.5% of his opponents at Triple-A it’s at least possible the Cubs could enter July feeling good about their rotation for the stretch run.

Plenty of arms should be available at the deadline if they do end up needing reinforcements, with the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara standing out as the most frequently discussed name. Aside from Alcantara, players like Tyler Anderson, Seth Lugo, Chris Bassitt, and Michael Lorenzen could all theoretically be available on the trade market depending on the where their respective clubs find themselves in the standings this summer. Aside from Alcantara, each of those players can become free agents following the 2025 season. That could be preferable for the Cubs in the event they do pursue pitching help given that Steele is expected to pitch most of the 2026 season and each of Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, and Jameson Taillon are already under contract for next year, while the club holds an option on Rea.

Richie Palacios Expected To Miss 4-6 Weeks Due To Knee Injury

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Rays outfielder Richie Palacios was placed on the injured list due to what was termed a right knee sprain yesterday. It wasn’t immediately clear how long Palacios was expected to miss at the time, but manager Kevin Cash provided an update reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) this afternoon. Per Cash, the Rays are still “gathering information” about the specifics of Palacios’s injury, including whether surgery will ultimately be necessary. With that being said, Cash suggested that the Rays’ current expectation is that they’ll be without the outfielder for the next four to six weeks.

It’s the second IL stint of Palacios’s 2025 season. The outfielder missed Opening Day due to a late-spring fracture in his right ring finger and was activated from that injury on Thursday, but lasted just one day on the active roster before being sidelined with this knee issue. He went 3-for-4 with a stolen base in that one game on the roster, a performance that highlights just how much Palacios will be missed by the club while he’s out of action. The soon to be 28-year-old has hit a solid .238/.340/.377 with a 108 wRC+ in 125 games with the Cardinals and Rays dating back to 2023. In 422 trips to the plate during that time, Palacios has swiped 22 bases, swatted 11 homers, and walked at a 12.1% clip despite an 18.5% strikeout rate.

That all-around solid offensive performance is one the Rays could really use in their outfield mix. While the efforts of Christopher Morel, Jose Caballero, Jake Mangum, and Kameron Misner have shockingly led the Rays to the most productive outfield in baseball to this point in the 2025 season, there are plenty of indicators that this production isn’t sustainable. Morel is striking out at an eye-popping 43.8% clip this year, and Caballero’s strikeout rate is at 42.5%. Mangum and Misner, meanwhile, have managed to reach this level of success thanks to BABIPs of .373 and .405 respectively. Morel and Caballero can’t expect to stay productive while striking out in nearly half of their plate appearances, while Misner and Mangum should expect those sky-high BABIPs to come back down to Earth eventually.

A steady bat like that of Palacios would’ve gone a long way to stabilizing the club’s outfield production, but that hope will be put off for at least the next month. With no return in sight for Josh Lowe from his oblique strain and Jonny DeLuca expected to stay on the shelf until sometime next month due to a shoulder strain, that should give recently-promoted outfield prospect Chandler Simpson the opportunity to keep the good times rolling in Tampa’s outfield. Simpson was chosen to take Palacios’s place on the roster when he went on the IL yesterday, and the 24-year-old youngster made waves by stealing 104 bases in 121 attempts in the minors last year.

It’s a tall ask of Simpson, who only just reached Triple-A this year and had yet to hit much at the level across 17 games. The Rays have few remaining viable depth options available in their outfield at this point unless they’re willing to play non-roster DH Eloy Jimenez on the grass, so the speedy prospect figures to be a fixture of the club’s outfield for at least the next few weeks in light of Palacios’s potentially lengthy absence barring a surprise external acquisition that helps deepen the Rays’ outfield mix.

Marlins’ Griffin Conine Suffers Dislocated Shoulder

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The Marlins announced after today’s game that outfielder Griffin Conine suffered a dislocated left shoulder and is currently undergoing further evaluation and treatment. It’s all but certain that Conine will require a stint on the injured list. While a more specific timetable for the injury won’t be clear until he’s been evaluated more fully, it should be expected that Conine will miss quite some time. Dislocated shoulders can often require a recovery period measured in months rather than weeks, and severe dislocations can even require surgery that would jeopardize the remainder of Conine’s 2025 campaign.

Trevor Story, Shohei Ohtani, and Jung Hoo Lee are among the players to have recently required surgery after suffering a separated shoulder. Ohtani’s partial dislocation required only arthroscopic surgery, and he wound up being ready for Spring Training just three months after going under the knife. Story’s surgery in April of last year was also to correct a partial dislocation but was nonetheless expected to be season-ending, although he ultimately managed to make it back to the majors in late September after roughly five months on the shelf. Lee, by contrast, suffered a full dislocation back in May and ultimately missed the remainder of the 2024 season.

However long Conine ends up missing, it’s nonetheless a frustrating setback for the 27-year-old. A second-round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2018, Conine was traded to Miami as part of the Jonathan Villar trade and made his MLB debut late last year. Conine has looked like a solid contributor in 49 big league games since his promotion, hitting .273/.338/.441 (116 wRC+) to this point in his young big league career and even earning the everyday left field job for the rebuilding Marlins. That everyday job figured to be a very effective proving ground for Conine that could offer him plenty of runway to earn either a long-term job as a regular in Miami or perhaps even catch the attention of rival clubs as a potential trade piece, but all of that now figures to be scuttled for the foreseeable future.

A Marlins club that was already lacking in outfield depth after Derek Hill hit the shelf due to a sprained wrist earlier this week now figures to be tested even further. Jesus Sanchez and Dane Myers are currently sharing time in center field while Kyle Stowers serves as a regular fixture in right field. That would leave a combination of Sanchez, Myers, and utilityman Javier Sanoja to mix and match in left field as necessary out of the club’s current outfield options, though a bat will surely be brought up to replace Conine on the roster in due time.

Victor Mesa Jr. is already on the 40-man roster and could be called up to share time in center with Myers, pushing Sanchez over to left, or a non-roster veteran like Albert Almora Jr. could have his contract selected from Triple-A to help fill out the outfield depth chart in Miami. One other potential x-factor for the Marlins could be top outfield prospect Jakob Marsee, who came over from San Diego in the Luis Arraez trade. Marsee has looked good in 18 games at Triple-A to this point in the year and could slide into an everyday outfield role seamlessly for Miami, though it’s unclear if the club would have any interest in bringing the 23-year-old to the majors (and starting his service clock) without seeing a larger body of work at Triple-A. Marsee is also not yet on the 40-man roster and would require a corresponding 40-man move, though a particularly long absence for Conine would solve that issue by way of the 60-day injured list.

Astros Activate Forrest Whitley From Injured List

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The Astros announced earlier today that they’ve activated right-hander Forrest Whitley from the injured list. Righty Nick Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

The move sets up what could be the first extended shot in the majors of Whitley’s career. Selected 17th overall by the Astros all the way back in 2016, Whitley was a consensus top-10 prospect in the entire sport in the late 2010s and considered by many to be the best up-and-coming young pitcher in the minor leagues. Unfortunately, things came off the rails somewhat for the righty from there. He was suspended for 50 games for violating MiLB’s drug policy prior to the 2018 season, and that suspension, shoulder issues, the canceled minor league season in 2020, and Tommy John surgery led to Whitley throwing just 66 innings in minor league games over a four-year period.

When he finally made his way back onto the mound in 2022, the results were not good. Whitley struggled to a 6.53 ERA in 40 innings spread across three levels of the minors, including a 7.09 ERA at Triple-A. He struggled again the following year with a 5.70 ERA in 30 innings before being sidelined by a lat strain but stuck around to make his big league debut last year. He threw just three innings in the majors last year but did not surrender a run and also posted an excellent 1.89 ERA with a 31.9% strikeout rate in 32 appearances at Triple-A last year after moving to the bullpen.

A bone bruise in Whitley’s left knee prevented him from making the Astros’ roster out of camp this year, but the issue didn’t keep him sidelined for long. Since Whitley is out of options, he had to either be designated for assignment or added to the Astros’ big league roster once he was ready to be activated from the injured list. Houston chose to bring him back up to the majors, and he’s now set to join a bullpen that has virtually no certainty outside of closer Josh Hader and top setup man Bryan Abreu. Bryan King has looked good as another potential high leverage arm from the left side to complement Hader, but there’s little in Whitley’s way to stop him from becoming the club’s second high leverage arm from the right side after this offseason’s Ryan Pressly trade vacated the role.

With that being said, the righty will need to show better control than he did during his latest stint at Triple-A. While Whitley struck out a solid 26.3% of his opponents during his latest rehab assignment, he walked an unplayable 21.1% of batters as well. Fortunately, that was across a sample of just four appearances. It’s not at all difficult to imagine a player with Whitley’s talent and prospect pedigree finally being able to put things together in the majors this year, particularly now that he’s moved to the bullpen full-time in a move that should help to minimize injury risk.

Making room for Whitley on the Astros’ active roster is the departure of Hernandez, who will head to Triple-A Sugar Land and wait for his next opportunity. Hernandez departs the roster without having made an appearance this year, though he has a 9.00 ERA in seven appearances with the Astros and Padres in his career since debuting with San Diego back in 2023. The 28-year-old’s career 3.34 ERA at Triple-A suggests there’s reason for optimism he could be effective in the majors if offered the opportunity, but he doesn’t appear ticketed for an extended look in the majors any time soon given the current construction of Houston’s bullpen.

Padres Place Jason Heyward On Injured List, Recall Tirso Ornelas

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The Padres announced this afternoon that they’ve placed Jason Heyward on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his left knee. They’ve recalled outfielder Tirso Ornelas to the major league roster to replace Heyward. Ornelas’s first game will be his MLB debut, and his expected call-up was first reported by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune earlier this afternoon.

Ornelas, 25, was signed by the Padres out of Tijuana, Mexico and made his pro debut in 2017. He’s slowly but surely climbed up the minor league ladder since then. After a brief call-up to Triple-A in 2022, he arrived at the level permanently in 2023 and has been playing there ever since with a strong career .291/.367/.462 slash line across 203 games for the club’s El Paso affiliate. Defensively, Ornelas has logged time in all three outfield spots and made occasional cameos at first base throughout his career, though he’s mostly been confined to the outfield corners.

The youngster’s big league debut comes during a rash of injuries for the Padres, who had already lost Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, and Brandon Lockridge to the injured list before Heyward joined them today. It’s been a major test of the club’s depth, particularly in center field where they’ve resorted to using Tyler Wade and Connor Joe at the position due to a lack of viable alternatives. Ornelas will be tasked with replacing Heyward in the lineup once he joins the club. The 35-year-old veteran has gotten off to a slow start this year, hitting just .190/.255/.286 in 17 games with the club even while being heavily platoon protected by San Diego.

Acee goes on to suggest that an expanded role for Oscar Gonzalez also can’t necessarily be ruled out, suggesting that a “silver lining” in Heyward’s absence has been an opportunity to get a better look at the 27-year-old. He’s done fairly well for himself in the early going this year, posting six hits in 18 plate appearances with strong batted ball data despite no extra-base hits in that microscopic sample size. Gonzalez actually hits better against right-handed hitters than lefties historically, so it’s at least plausible that Gonzalez could slip into something of a regular role with the club in left field while Ornelas is up if the youngster is tabbed to handle center field instead of left.

Of course, much of that will depend on how the club plans to use Ornelas now that he’s set to join the roster. It’s unclear if Ornelas will be in the mix for time in center field for the club; while he’s logged just 50 games at the position in the minors over the years, neither Wade nor Joe is particularly experienced at the position either. It’s also unclear if Ornelas will be in as strict of a platoon as Heyward has been while he’s with the club, though even if Gonzalez takes up an everyday job for the time being the presence of Joe (who has a career 105 wRC+ against left-handed hitters) makes a platoon a viable option for the Padres.

Giants Select David Villar, Place Casey Schmitt On Injured List

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves this morning, highlighted by the club selecting the contract of infielder David Villar. Infielder Casey Schmitt was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain, which clears a spot for Villar on the active roster, and a 40-man roster spot for Villar was created by transferring slugger Jerar Encarnacion to the 60-day injured list.

Villar, 28, has been a generally passable but unspectacular utility infielder for the Giants since he made his big league debut with the club back in 2022. In 109 big league games since then, he’s hit a slightly below league average .200/.288/.400 with a massive 32.4% strikeout rate that he somewhat makes up for with substantial power that could translate to 25-to-30 homers if given a full season’s worth of plate appearances. He pairs that power with the ability to play capable defense at first, second, or third base as necessary despite the majority of his working having come at the hot corner.

He’s always raked against Triple-A pitching, as evidenced by his .273/.381/.507 career line across parts of four seasons at the level. Unfortunately for Villar, however, he’s yet to prove himself in the majors and is currently out of options. That led the Giants to prefer carrying optionable bench pieces like Schmitt and Brett Wisely to open the year, leaving them to designate him for assignment just prior to Opening Day. He ultimately went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues by the Giants, where he resumed hitting extremely well over 15 games before today’s call-up. The right-handed hitting Villar figures to back up Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald at second and third base, but most of his playing time could come in a platoon with struggling lefty LaMonte Wade Jr. after his previous platoon partner Schmitt hit the injured list.

Speaking of Schmitt, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that he was likely to head to the shelf after he suffered an oblique strain while hitting in the cages just before yesterday’s game. A timetable for Schmitt’s return is unlikely to be available until after he’s undergone testing to determine the severity of the strain, but he’ll be out for the next ten days at least even if the strain turns out to be extremely mild. It’s been a tough start to the year for Schmitt so far, as he’s hit just .174/.208/.261 in his current part-time role with the club. Of course, those numbers came in just eight games and 24 plate appearances. A look at Schmitt’s work in 40 games last year, where he hit .252/.283/.477, is far more encouraging and comes in a more robust (though still fairly small) sample of 113 plate appearances.

As for Encarnacion, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise. The slugger was ticketed for a regular DH job with the Giants but suffered a hand fracture just before Opening Day and is expected to miss at least eight weeks due to the issue. That means he could be transferred without it impacting his potential timeline for return at all, as his minimum stay on the IL will expire in late May, right away the most optimistic date for his expected return to action. The 27-year-old was a league average hitter for the Giants in 35 games last year and got the club’s attention after raking for the Mexican League’s Guerreros de Oaxaca and the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

Pirates Place Tim Mayza On 15-Day IL, Recall David Bednar

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The Pirates have placed left-hander Tim Mayza on the 15-day injured list due to a lat muscle strain in Mayza’s throwing shoulder.  Former closer David Bednar has been called up to take Mayza’s spot on the active roster.

The biggest news here is the return of Bednar, who served as the Pirates’ closer for the majority of the 2022-24 seasons. An All-Star in both 2022 and ’23, Bednar posted a 2.27 ERA and 2.49 FIP with a 30.6% strikeout rate in those two years. Things took a turn for the worse last year, though, as Bednar struggled to a 5.77 ERA with a 4.80 FIP in 57 2/3 innings. His strikeout rate dipped to just 22.1%, and his walk rate ballooned up to 10.7%. The Pirates stuck with their man for the majority of last year despite his struggles, but eventually pulled him from the closer role in late August of last year.

That led to plenty of questions about if he would be a trade or even non-tender candidate this winter, but Bednar ended up not only remaining in the organization but also in the mix for saves entering 2025. Unfortunately for both the Pirates and the right-hander, he surrendered four runs (three earned) on four hits (including one homer) and two walks while striking out just one over his first three appearances, only one of which saw him record an out before being pulled. He was optioned to the minors on April 1 as a result of this poor performance after months of attempts to try to get the 30-year-old right. There’s no obvious injury or decline in velocity to point to as an explanation for his struggles, and perhaps that’s why it’s not a surprise that he dominated Triple-A hitters with five scoreless frames and seven strikeouts against zero walks.

Bednar’s return to the majors was seemingly at least partially spurred on by how dominant he looked during his brief stay in the minors, but it’s unclear what role he’ll fill for the Pirates now that he’s back in Pittsburgh. Manager Derek Shelton discussed Bednar’s return with reporters (including those with the Associated Press) earlier this afternoon, but did not offer any concrete plans for the righty.

“We’re kind of pitching to what we think the leverage is and what we feel the matchup is, but excited to have him back,” Shelton said, as relayed by the AP. “He went down, he pitched really well. He handled himself really well. I think we’ve said all along we’re a better bullpen with David Bednar in it. It’s nice to have him back.”

Shelton went on to suggest there’s some fluidity to the Pirates’ plans regarding Bednar, which makes sense given their uncertain bullpen situation. Pittsburgh’s relief corps is a roughly average group by ERA and FIP when compared to the rest of the league, but more advanced metrics like SIERA and xFIP consider the Pirates to have a bottom-ten bullpen in the sport. The late innings are particularly uncertain for the club, with Dennis Santana currently serving as the club’s closer despite a 14.7% strikeout rate after a knee issue sent the scuffling Colin Holderman to the injured list earlier this month.

The uncertainty in the bullpen just got worse for Pittsburgh, as the loss of Mayza is a fairly significant one. The 33-year-old signed an MLB deal with the organization back in February and has looked like one of the club’s best relievers in the early going with a 2.89 ERA and 3.35 FIP in seven appearances. A disastrous first half in Toronto tanked Mayza’s 2024 numbers, but he’s generally be a very reliable middle relief arm over the years with a 3.43 ERA and a 3.48 FIP since the start of the 2021 season. While losing the southpaw certainly hurts, Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Borucki both remain available as left-handed relief options for the Pirates in addition to long relief arm Joey Wentz.

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