What If the Pirates Bullpen Help Isn’t Coming?

We have operated the last couple months under the assumption that if the Pirates just keep their head above water, stay in the hunt, they are going to make the moves at the trade deadline to supplement this team, which has one very glaring weakness, and that's the bullpen.

There are always relievers available at the trade deadline, so, just hang around, we'll fix the bullpen come August 3rd.

I do expect the Pirates to be buyers, unless these next couple weeks go horribly off the rails, but I look at this trade market, and I'm starting to wonder, what if the Calvary isn't coming?

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.

It's a very crowded league this year.

There aren't a lot of teams who are just running away with postseason spots, and there aren't a lot of teams who are just really falling behind.

Four teams are either currently in what would be a postseason spot, one of those 12 postseason spots, and then there are 12 teams that are within four games of a postseason spot.

That's 80% of the league that's either position for October or within relative striking distance.

Now, four games on July 6th is very different than four games in late September.

You could get hot.

You could get cold.

There's a good chance that we could have a couple teams who are in the mix right now who just fall back.

But at the same time, you could have teams like the Detroit Tigers who could get hot, and maybe they add themselves to this market.

But there just isn't a lot of teams that are unequivocal sellers.

And that makes this a very crowded field of teams that could be potentially looking to add come the trade deadline.

And every team is looking to add relief pitching whenever you're a postseason contender.

Teams who could add, but also not a lot of actual dedicated sellers.

And if you are on that mix and you do decide to sell, you do get buying power.

You have seller's power.

Because it's like, we are giving up a chance in October.

You have to really wow us to make a trade.

So, I look at this market, and there might not be a lot of sellers.

And there's not a lot of bullpen help as is as I'm looking at this market.

Let's do a thought exercise here.

I'm just like, what are some potential targets here?

This isn't source.

This is just an exercise.

And part of this exercise is we're going to make two big assumptions here.

The first being that money is no object.

2026 salary doesn't matter.

We're assuming that ownership is 100% on board.

They will write the check.

It is not a question.

Just fix the bullpen.

Get the team to October.

Period.

Full stop.

That's one.

And we are also going to assume that every single prospect besides Seth Hernandez and Edward Florentino is in the mix.

Not saying that there is, they are eager to trade a lot of these guys, but everyone else besides the top hitting and the top pitching prospect, it's within the realm of possibility that they could trade them.

Thought exercise.

The world is our oyster.

The world is our oyster.

Let's just take a look.

And you look at who is the big trade target here.

Aroldis Chapman.

Chapman is probably a future Hall of Famer who is having a really good season, who is probably also going to hit an innings threshold to make his option next year fully vested.

So you are not only getting a really good reliever for this year, you also have someone who, I believe the option is $12 million next year.

That might be a little steep, but not that expensive.

You can afford that for a stud reliever.

It's like, okay, Aroldis Chapman, he's the big guy on the market.

Well, the Red Sox are one of those teams within four games of a postseason spot.

And even if they do throw in the towel in 2026, it doesn't mean they're going to do the same for 2027.

That's why I look at, the Aroldis Chapman and the Garrett Whitlock deal, or potential deals, and I'm a little doubtful.

There's just a lot that's going to be asked for them.

And there are also going to be a lot of teams looking for bullpen help who are going to go after the top reliever on the market.

So, okay, that might be, that might be the dream target, but I'm not exactly optimistic here.

Who's the next best guy?

Colorado, Antonio Sanzatella, who also has a team option for next year, which is $14 million.

Again, steep, especially for a non-closer, but, within the realm of possibility.

Three ERA in Colorado.

I don't like the strikeout rate.

I see some red flags with that.

And I know the traditional thinking is, oh, just get him out of Colorado.

He's going to get a lot better.

We just saw with Justin Lawrence.

That isn't always guaranteed.

But, okay, what about him?

Well, down strikeout rates.

I don't know.

That's a lot of money to spend on a reliever who's not going to strike out 20% of his batter's face.

Not to mention the acquisition cost of a top prospect.

Not to mention the fact he's not really a closer.

If you were a serious contender, he'd be like your third best reliever.

Maybe second.

He is a setup man here, not a closer.

And, look, this bullpen, they need a closer.

They need a setup man.

They need middle relief.

Beggars can't be choosers.

They will take what they want.

But, ideally, you'd want to acquire someone that you could give the ball to confidently in the ninth inning.

Or, at the very least, the eighth.

I don't know if he is that guy, really.

Tigers.

Okay, another team that's not within the four games.

Probably Dustin the Cell.

Kenley Jansen.

Potential future Hall of Famer, except his ERA is five.

Okay, that's probably not going to work out.

The Mets.

They're sellers.

Luke Weaver.

Really good reliever.

Would be that guy who could get the ball to in the ninth.

He also has an...

He's under contract for 2027.

It is not only going to take more to acquire him.

The Mets might not be that eager to trade him.

Because they are going to be under the assumption they have to win in 2027.

Baltimore.

They're fading.

Maybe not in that mix.

They are within the four-game window.

But, maybe they're falling behind.

I really like Cadell.

I think he is a stud.

He has two years of control remaining.

That is going to cost a lot, prospect-wise, for a relief pitcher.

So, I'm looking at, who are the guys who could actually make that impact in the eighth, ninth inning.

A lot of them have extra team control.

Which is unquestionably appealing to the Pirates or any team.

But it's going to jack up the prospect cost.

And it raises the question, how much are you willing to give up for bullpen help?

How much are you willing to give up for someone who's probably going to throw 20 innings down the stretch?

Now, they could be 20 pivotal innings.

But, man, it's a lot to give up.

a top 10 prospect or top 5 prospect.

Maybe a top 100 if you're talking to someone like Cano.

We're going to take a quick break.

We've got more thoughts here in a little bit.

But we're going to throw it over to Cody.

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So, the big fish here, I'm less than optimistic about.

So, what's that next tier?

Well, that next tier is probably like JoJo Romero of the Cardinals and Jason Adam of the Padres.

Now, that comes two rental relievers, two good guys to have.

If you give them the ball in the 8th and the 9th, you feel really good.

But, neither one of them is, really probably that eager to sell quite yet.

And in the Cardinals' place, boy, that'd be a real tough look to be ahead of the Pirates in the standings and trade one of your best relievers to them.

That'd be a really tough look.

I'm not exactly optimistic that could come together.

And Jason Adam, I think he is a stud.

If he is the closer, thumbs up.

Good.

I don't think the Padres are ever going to cash out.

They're just perpetually doubling down on trying to win this year.

At some point, they'll have to pay the Piper, but I don't think they're eager to do that right now.

Okay, what's that next tier?

The guys who, could just be 7th inning, middle relief.

There, I think there are some options.

A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley in New York.

I think either one of them would be good fixes.

Kirby Yates with America's team, the Angels, the knee injury, sidelined him for over a month.

He's coming off a bad year in 2025, but like, yeah, he's been pretty good for them.

If you require him to be an 8th inning setup guy, okay, I can dig that.

I, if you want to look at Kyle Finnegan in Detroit, I really like Daniel Lynch.

In Kansas City, but again, team control, I don't think they're exactly eager to trade him or blow up the team the next couple years because they still have Bobby Witt Jr. Prime.

They can't get rid of that.

They can't punt those years.

So, yeah, I do see avenues for the Pirates to add to this bullpen.

I do see those opportunities.

I just don't know if there's a big fish out there.

Like, yeah, they could make a deal with like the Giants and bring back like a JT Brubaker.

That could be a nice little addition for middle relief, but that's not going to fix the 8th, the 9th.

I don't know if that guy's out there, which draws the attention again to what you have internally.

If this bullpen's going to get better, a big part of that equation is going to be internal improvement.

And we have seen Dennis Santana, the last dozen outings, have 10 scoreless outings.

But those two where he's allowed runs, he's looked real bad.

There's still some Jekyll and Hyde there.

I feel he is making progress.

I think he's trending towards the right direction, but can't really put him in those high leverage 8th, 9th inning spots yet, I don't think.

At least not confidently, you're going to be holding your breath if you do.

Gregory Soto's had a really rough month plus.

Evid Zisk has risen to the occasion, but he's also on the injured list right now.

They selected the contract of Noah Murdock in Indianapolis.

Maybe he could throw some innings.

There's some, buzz, some people internally who really like the stuff that he's doing right now.

Maybe he could be, part of the fix, but like, it's just a long list of, there are projects and you can maybe be confident or feel good about some of the ways they are progressing.

But this is a bullpen that needs external additions.

And given how many teams are going to be looking for those additions and the lack of quality options out there, I don't know if there is, like a big closer or an 8th inning guy set up man coming in.

There are going to be a lot of teams in the mix and it's not a robust market as is.

Now, if some teams fall out of this race in the next couple of weeks, that could create opportunities.

If the Tigers simultaneously get worse, but Kenley Jansen figures it out, that changes the market a little bit.

There are ways this market could change.

But as we sit here at 1.05 p.m. on July 6th, there's concern.

And this is a team that needs to make those moves if they are going to make the postseason.

I don't know how many opportunities there are.

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