Pirates Could Have an Elite Bullpen in 2027

I spent a lot of time talking about the Pirates bullpen this year.

It was a focal point not just of this podcast, but pretty much anywhere where you could get Pirates commentary or coverage.

First four months of the year, it was the definitive weakness of this team, and it cost them wins.

And you can't help but wonder, maybe this season would have turned out a little differently had the Pirates more ambitiously added to the unit during the offseason, had they been more ambitious in adding to the group in season, making trades before the deadline.

There's a lot of ifs and could'ves and would'ves here.

But as we look towards 2027, I think they have a one-two punch in the back end of the bullpen.

That is among the league's best.

I don't know if they have enough relief pitching in general for the unit to be a strength yet, though.

Good morning, and welcome to OffBeat here on North Shore Nine, presented by FanDuel.

My name is Alex Stumpf, and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh Pirates.

Giving the Pirates some flowers here real quick.

After the trade deadline, starting August 3rd, the Pirates' bullpen recorded a .349 ERA.

That was the ninth best in baseball.

And they threw 216 and two-thirds innings, which was the third most in baseball.

They had a bullpen game once every turn through the rotation because of the Mitch Keller injury.

They threw plenty of games.

Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Braxton Ashcraft.

They'd be pulled at like 80, 85 pitches, so they would be tasked with throwing extra innings there.

They didn't have a lot of days off.

And they were able to deliver both quantity and quality with their innings over those last two months.

And I guess you would realistically expect, okay, the unit's going to be better going into next year.

And it very well could.

It very well could.

But there are still so many question marks in this bullpen.

The most obvious being, just to rip off the Band-Aid here, is Karin Mlodzinski.

We don't know right now if he is going to be a starting pitcher or a reliever.

The plan is what it's been the last couple years.

Build up this winner to throw as many innings in season as you can.

And look, that's another player I've talked a lot about on this show.

I think Karin Mlodzinski is a good pitcher.

I think in a lot of circumstances, he would be good enough to be in a major league starting rotation.

But I can't help but look at, like, a Luke Weaver or some of these other guys, and it's like, man, you could be an absolute demon out of the bullpen.

I get there's so much appeal to the starter life.

You know your routine.

You know what – you have the luxury of knowing when you could work on stuff, how you could attack.

You have bullpens to get better.

There is a lot of different ways that being a starting pitcher is better than a relief pitcher before you even get to, like, the money.

But, man, if – this is why I wasn't a good athlete.

Because if it was, like, if I could be a fifth starter or if I could be a team's ace reliever, I think the choice would be obvious for me.

I think he could be Andrew Miller-like.

We don't know if he's going to be a starter.

We don't know if he's going to be a reliever.

We don't know how he would take it if he was told he was a reliever.

There was a lot of toothpaste that went out of the tube at the end of May whenever Jared Jones returned.

And while he did his job and there weren't any other public outcries from there, it's still a lot of toothpaste on that kitchen sink, bathroom sink, any sink, whatever.

So, yeah, I – look, if the Pirates were to salary dump Mitch Keller, I would be fine with, like, okay, just give Mlodzinski an opportunity to start.

But outside of that, outside of knowing going into spring training he is going to be a starting pitcher, I personally would just plan on him being the bullpen arm.

And if he's not on board with that, might have to explore the trade market.

I think he could be a really good reliever.

And these concerns that I list about the bullpen coming up here, a lot of them are quelled if Karvin Mlodzinski is in.

If he is willing to buy in.

But if he doesn't, if he isn't willing to buy in, then there are the question marks.

Then there is the – just the uncertainty of this bullpen.

That once you get up past their one-two punch in, Lake Bakar, what happens then?

Real fast on that one-two punch here before we get into the ad read.

Because Mason Montgomery is really good.

We saw a young pitcher really grow and mature over the course of the year.

Adding the sinker, I think, was a real game-changer for him.

He was tenacious.

I loved that the last – second to last game of the season, gives up his first runs in, months.

Literal months.

And he's, has maybe a bad taste in his mouth.

And he goes in the next day, he's like, hey, if there's another save opportunity, I want to be the guy.

And he goes out there, and you can tell he's gassed.

It's the end of the year.

He's, not – it's the first time he's had a year really like this.

And even if he isn't at 100%, like he hadn't been the last couple days, he still had that drive.

He still had that, I want to finish my year with the save mindset.

So I was really impressed there.

And Luke Weaver, look, I know the results weren't there in Pittsburgh.

But there's a reason why the Pirates traded for him.

This guy is really good.

I think he could be one of the game's premier setup men.

It's a really good one-two punch.

And Lake Bacar, while we're still talking about who I feel really good about in this bullpen, man, did he show a lot.

That split, man, it's a deadly pitch.

He showed that he could go multi-innings.

I don't know if he's going to be more than like that multi-inning type of guy.

But if that's what he is, sign me up.

There is a lot to like about his game.

I think he showcased it well.

I think that was a good trade with the Marlins, where the Pirates might have traded a more upside.

But pitchers who need it developed, and they're getting someone who is helping immediately right now.

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Outside of those three guys, at four, if you count Carmen Mlodzinski as a reliever, this bullpen has a lot of question marks.

Yohan Ramírez was outstanding this year.

He was an unsung hero.

At the end of the year, the local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America lists our three guys for MVP and a team's best pitcher.

And I will tell you, my ballot for best pitcher went Braxton Ashcraft, Mason Montgomery too, and then third, instead of Paul Skenes, who I felt had a down year, I went with the guy who exceeded expectations and was the most important person to the bullpen from start to finish.

It was Yohan Ramírez.

He did a lot this year.

It was also a different year than we saw before.

We still saw some struggles against left-handers.

I really think he found an arm slot.

I really think he found how to use both his fastballs more effectively.

There's a lot I liked here, but this is also...

We've seen many a reliever have, one great year and then revert back, and he's never thrown this many innings before.

See how the body responds.

I'm optimistic about him for 2027, but I could see ways that this falls off the rails again.

Again, really great season.

Hope he gets paid in arbitration because he's earned it.

But, yeah, if he's my fourth or fifth guy going into the bullpen, going into the year, that's fine.

But I could see this falling off the rails again.

Outside of that, you have young starting pitchers in middle relief roles, whether that's Khristian Curtis, Wilber Dotel, Antwone Kelly, Hunter Barco, if you're still thinking about him in that way.

Or guys who...

Look, Isaac Mattson, I really liked him in 25, but that arm angle dropped.

And the results got a lot worse.

I don't know what his major league future is.

I don't know what Evan Sisk's major league future is.

And Sisk raises an interesting question because who is the lefty then?

It can't be Barco.

He's not built like that.

He's a starting pitcher who didn't even do that outrageously well in 2026.

But I don't move him to like a single winning relief role yet.

If it's not Sisk, you really don't have anyone else because Mason Montgomery is going to be pitching the eighth or ninth.

Probably the ninth.

So do the Pirates need to look at the free agent market?

I know last year the Gregory Soto contract was in large part.

It's like there weren't a lot of lefties they liked out there.

I think that's part of the reason why they added like Tyler Sameniego last year to the 40-man roster.

Now he was traded in the Justins and Garcia deal, but it was like, look, just get another lefty in the mix.

I think you need to add a lefty somewhere in the mix, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a big free agent signing like Gregory Soto, but you got to at least put up shots with minor league contracts and hoping something pans out.

It just raises a lot of questions.

I don't see a lot of help in AAA either.

there's Brandon Isard.

Walking back here for a second for left-handed pitching, but I think that pretty much – he's in the Evan Sisk camp of a soft-tossing lefty.

Isard did finish the year much better, but he spent a lot of his season in Indianapolis rather than Pittsburgh whenever he was acquired to try to help the major league team.

It's telling.

I look at the guys in AAA.

Ryan Harbin, if he's healthy.

I think he has stuff.

He throws hard.

I think he could be a major league reliever.

Michael Walsh and Derek Diamond, I view them as up-down guys.

They're both roll-five eligible.

I don't know if there's going to be a roll-five draft.

I don't know if I would add both to my roster this winter anyway.

Just to see what happens.

But I don't see a ton of internal help coming up from AAA.

They need to find ways to get better externally, whether that's trade, whether that's free agency, whether that's minor league free agency.

One of the few moves you can make during the lockout.

There are different ways you can add to a bullpen.

It's not like, starting pitching, where if you're not trading, signing, or developing, you're out of luck.

Bullpen, you could get crazy.

You could find people on the waiver wire.

You could find people, minor league free agency, who can help.

But it would be, I think this unit would really benefit from having one or two big swings.

They made a couple huge ones at the deadline.

But Kirby Yates is retired.

Kamala Doval is gone.

Luke Weaver is still here.

And that's going to be big for 2027.

But there's still a question of who else.

This is a unit that I think could really use one or two more leverage arms.

At least one more.

And if Carmen Mlodzinski is not going to be part of the bullpen picture, we don't know yet what his future holds.

But if he's not, it might have to be two leverage arms.

Thank you so much for listening to OffBeat here on North Shore Nine, presented by FanDuel.

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Have a good weekend.

We will talk again on Monday.

All right.

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