The Pirates MUST Fix Their Bullpen Before the Trade Deadline

This might not exactly be on-brand for the analytics, new-age thinking guy, but I see a lot of value, and I'm very pro-closer.

If you can go to the 9th inning, hand the ball off to someone, and just know the plate is going to land, that's good enough for me.

I also think there's a lot of value in a setup man, or, just a really good 7th inning guy, or just really anyone you can turn to at the end of ballgames.

This bullpen does not have that guy.

And if they don't acquire one, or two, by Monday's deadline, their path to the postseason is much harder.

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.

They did not start this Pivotal Wake game road trip well.

They fell behind early, they were able to come back, tie it, and then in the 9th inning, little bloop with the bases loaded, they can't turn to, game over.

That's loss number 23 for this Pirates bullpen, compared to just 21 saves.

For curiosity's sake, I looked, since the save became official in 1969, how many times has a Pirates bullpen had more losses than saves?

And this is something that's been a recent development in 2022, in 2025, in 2021, in 2020.

Every year they finish with more losses than wins.

Before then, it was just in 1974, 1985, and 2000.

So this has become a regular occurrence.

And we could just say, oh, blame the bullpen, because we have blamed the bullpen a lot this year.

And yeah, I'm blaming the bullpen here also.

But you know what?

Yohan Ramirez did his job as the opener.

Noah Murdock came in, and he provided a couple good innings of relief.

Hunter Barco rebounded after that first inning to give three innings of relief.

Mason Montgomery, he came in, he pitched well.

It's not the middle relief guys.

I've brought this up a couple times.

Like, whenever this bullpen does perform, it's usually the long relievers who come through.

Karin Mlodzinski has done well in his bullpen role.

Now, we can talk about how he's not positioning himself to pitch impact innings because of this whole recovery day schedule that he has.

I think that's a big issue with this bullpen, how they are constructed.

Not knowing when you could go to Mlodzinski and just, whenever he is available, using him and hoping that it's a leverage spot.

But whenever he's pitched, the results have been good.

I know Wilber Dotel has had one or two blowups, but I think most people would agree, on the whole, he has had a good rookie season.

He has been, quite possibly, their second or third best reliever this year.

The issues with this bullpen have been in the single winning and especially late.

The Pirates have a .483 team ERA in innings 7 through 9.

That is the 8th worst mark in franchise history, and it doesn't even count all the unearned runs they allowed also.

As of recording, they have allowed 187 runs in innings 7 through 9.

That is the second most in baseball behind the Nationals.

Whenever we say this team has a bullpen problem, yeah, it's obvious, but it's also the back end of the game that's the most apparent.

Usually, whenever teams have bullpen problems, it's, well, they've got a reliever or two that they can turn to at the back end of games, and it's just finding a way to bridge that gap there.

They don't have the middle relief.

The Pirates have the inverse problem.

They have a couple good middle relievers.

They have a couple guys who can go a couple innings.

They may not be available, most days, but whatever they do pitch, they do pitch.

Well, it's the guys that you're supposed to be able to go to most days.

The guys you're supposed to go to in the 8th inning, in the 9th inning, who are not having a good year.

277 runs.

Second most in baseball.

So I looked.

Innings 7 through 9.

What are the best ERAs on the team?

And, Paul Skenes, Braxton Ashcraft, and then you got Mlodzinski.

It's like, okay, yeah, Mlodzinski.

He has a 159 ERA in those spots.

Evan Sisk, he threw a rehab inning on Thursday.

And then it gets to Cam Sanders at 338.

Mason Montgomery, which was 377 before his scoreless inning.

So that'll go down a little bit.

Gregory Soto's 380 ERA is going to go up a little bit.

Isaac Mattson in AAA.

Then it's Yohan.

Then it's Devenski.

Then those ERAs quickly get up to 5 and 6 and 7.

And Brandon Eiser, it's 853.

And it's an issue.

We've talked about this before, but whenever your back is up against the wall with this team, who do you go to?

That is something every bullpen needs to have.

They need to have those guys that, I need a strikeout.

I need a ground ball.

I just need a zero.

They don't really have that.

And whenever we talk about this team needs to acquire relievers, this deadline, and they absolutely do, I think they need someone with a proven track record.

Someone who can pitch the 8th or the 9th.

Because Gregory Soto is not a closer.

He wasn't brought in to be the closer.

He was brought in to split the role with Dennis Santana and maybe Justin Lawrence.

And Dennis Santana and Justin Lawrence were DFA'd.

Soto is the last guy standing here and it's been a middling year.

He was not brought in to be the closer and now just has closer duties, not through his own performance, but the collapse of other pitchers around him.

That needs to be rectified.

Because those games that you lose late, they sting, they haunt, they stack up.

And it's why we look at this team that at the start of the week, on Monday night, they held the wild card, the final wild card spot.

And now they're on a three-game losing streak.

And yeah, this streak won't impact how the Pirates approach the trade deadline, but it will impact their postseason odds.

Heard a little rumor about a team that's been scouting the Pirates recently.

Maybe they could be a bullpen trade.

We'll talk about them right after this break.

This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack, hydration, and sponsor.

IQ Bar Protein Bars, IQ Mix Hydration Mixes, and IQ Joe Mushroom Coffees are the delicious, low-sugar, brain and body fuel you need to win your day.

The Ultimate Sampler Pack is a great way for you to try all IQ Bar products and flavors.

You get nine IQ Bars, eight IQ Mix Sticks, and four IQ Joe Sticks.

All IQ Bar products are clean label certified and entirely free from gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, and artificial ingredients.

With over 20,000 five-star reviews and counting, more people than ever are fueling their lifestyles with IQ Bars, brain and body boosting bars, hydration mixes, and mushroom coffees.

The Ultimate Sampler Pack includes all three.

My personal favorites so far have been the Almond Butter Chip and the Iced Tea Lemonade Hydration Mix.

It's just really full of flavor.

I love starting my day with it, and I couldn't imagine starting my day with anything else other than IQ Bar products.

Right now, IQ Bar is offering our podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products, including the Ultimate Sampler Pack, plus free shipping.

To get your 20% off, text MLB to 64000.

That's MLB 64000.

Message and data rates may apply.

See terms for details.

So the Royals have had scouts at different levels of the Pirates organization the last week or so.

And that's interesting because one of the relievers I really like is Daniel Lynch IV.

I see some Tony Watson in his game.

I think he could jump into that role.

He's got an ERA of two over 45 innings.

Yeah, you would like this bullpen to add a big right-handed arm, but right now they're just in a spot that, take quality wherever you can get it.

That's just speculation on my part.

I don't know exactly where, if the two sides are talking.

I just know this time of year, there's usually some smoke.

Whenever there's smoke, there's usually fire.

And I see a little smoke here.

We'll see if anything comes to fruition.

No guarantees, of course.

But if it's not him, the bullpen goes to real quickly, like, the Nate Pearsons, the John Schreiber's, Matt Strom's guys.

That's like, yeah, I could see them maybe improving this bullpen, but we said the same thing whenever the Pirates acquired Brandon Eizert.

And maybe Eizert can impact this bullpen in 2026 or 2027 and beyond.

But this bullpen right now needs to be the number one priority.

They need to get better as a unit pretty darn quickly.

And the way to do that, I think, is acquiring veteran established relievers.

There's a reason why the Luke Weaver, pipe dream has lived on.

And it's because that's just the perfect guy somebody can give the eighth or ninth to.

This is a new issue for this team.

Because in 2020, my first full year covering the team, Keone Kella was hurt, but he was viewed like, okay, he'll have the ninth.

In 2021, it was Richard Rodriguez, who, yeah, was using sticky stuff probably.

His spin rates definitely hinted at it.

But he was still a good pitcher for four months.

And then in 2022, in the end of 2021, but 2022, we see the emergence of David Bednar.

And yeah, this bullpen was far from perfect.

But they always had their guy in the ninth.

And it's telling that the year that they underachieved, that they probably should have accomplished more, was 2024.

And that was a year that they didn't have that guy in the ninth.

You need to have just that finisher in your bullpen.

The guy you're going to win games, to finish off a baseball game.

And this bullpen could use more than just a ninth inning guy.

There's a reason why I'm not saying, well, just trade for Mason Miller and all your problems are solved.

No, this is a bigger problem.

You need multiple relievers.

But you need more than anything.

We're going to throw them in there.

We're going to see what happens.

We're not just saving Gregory Soto for the ninth inning.

Because, well, he's probably our best reliever.

And that's where you put your best reliever.

You make him your closer.

He's really not.

And I don't know if they're going to be able to acquire someone who could usurp his spot.

But they need him.

This team needs right-handed pitching who could get lefties out.

This team needs right-handed relief pitching in general.

And they need that guy who could, at the very least, pair with Soto to pitch the eighth or ninth, the way that they thought that they had with Dennis Santana.

Because I look at this offense, and I know it's been a little bit of a lull lately, a little streaky.

This is still one of the best offenses in franchise history, in my opinion.

The data suggests so also.

This is a starting rotation that has admittedly not lived up to expectations so far this year.

But has as high a potential as almost any team that's competing for a postseason spot.

It's the bullpen.

If there is ever a year, if there is ever a year to make some moves, it really feels like this is the year.

Because I don't know if this offense is going to be better in 2027, assuming they lose Brandon Lowe.

I don't know if this pitching staff is going to be as exciting next year.

You need to take advantage whenever there's an opportunity like this.

And part of that is, whenever it's the ninth inning, you've got to keep it a tie game.

Finding a way to not lose your 23rd game as a bullpen.

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

If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe wherever you find podcasts.

Or check us out on YouTube if you want to see my smiling face.

Thank you so much for listening.

We'll talk again tomorrow.

All right, that wraps up this episode of North Shore Nine.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

Whether you're listening on the podcast or catching us on YouTube, if you enjoyed the show, please give this video a thumbs up.

And don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already.

It really helps us grow.

And if you're listening on the podcast, a quick review goes a long way in helping others find the show.

Plus, be sure to tell a friend about us.

There's always room for more here in the NS9 community.

And for those looking to support us a little more, consider joining our Patreon.

Become an MVP member and get exclusive perks while helping us continue to bring you more of the Pirates content you love.

Thanks again for all your support.

And Let's Go Bucs.

Bye.