The NS9 Report is the start to your week. Posted bright and early every Monday morning, I’ll break down the three things that I’m looking for each week in Pirates land.
Jared Jones Returning This Week?
Jared Jones last pitched for the Pirates on September 27, 2004 when he struck out seven Yankees in 4.1 innings. Jones underwent surgery last May to repair his right UCL and was sidelined for the entire 2025 season with an average recovery time of 10-12 months. Well, it’s 12 months later and Jones is right on schedule to return to the 26-man active roster. Jones has made five rehab starts in the minors at three different levels and is eligible to come off the 60-day IL tomorrow on May 26.
Speaking on his radio show on 93.7 The Fan, Ben Cherington talked about the next step for Jones:
“He will have a bullpen scheduled for Tuesday. I think we’d just like to get with him in person, see that and cross that last thing on the list. Then we’ll make a determination. I think he’s put himself in consideration for activation at this point.”
It all looks and sounds that if the bullpen goes well and he looks healthy then he’ll be activated sometime this week. And whether you believe Jones should slide back into the rotation right away or go to the pen to limit his innings coming off of major arm surgery, him returning is a good thing for the team and will be a boost to the bullpen. If Jones goes to the rotation that should push Carmen Mlodzinski into the bullpen (what I prefer to see) and that will be a huge upgrade to the pen.
Mlod could pretty much handle any role in this pen. He could be an elite 2-3 inning option to bridge a short start to the back of the pen. He could also piggyback Jones if you need him to. Or he could be an elite one-inning option in the back of the bullpen which this pen has struggled with recently with the decline of Isaac Mattson and Dennis Santana in the back end late in games. MlodBot in the bullpen just makes sense to me. And it would be step one in helping to fix this bullpen before the trade deadline.
So I’ll be looking forward to hopefully seeing this announcement be made after Tuesday’s bullpen and where and when Jones first start in a year and a half with the Bucs will be. I also joined Bucco Brew this morning and talked about Jones with DiNardo, you can watch here:
Huge Homestand and a Friendly Face Returns
The Pirates have a 14-13 record on the road this season. That’s great, the old adage goes “Play .500 ball on the road and win two-thirds of your home games.” Well, the Pirates are following that trend on the road, but now it’s time to improve their 13-13 record at PNC Park. The Bucs were horrendous last year, but they still went 44-37 at home. So far they are underachieving at home. And every time I say let’s stack some wins and start winning at home, the team takes two steps back.
This week starting today on Memorial Day, the Pirates begin a seven-game homestand with four against the Cubs and then three against the Twins this weekend. The Cubs are in a free fall having lost their last eight games after being swept to the Astros and Brewers. Let’s keep that losing streak going and fly the L in Chicago for four more games. And this weekend the Twins and former manager Derek Shelton returns to PNC Park. Shelton’s return with the Twins will be basically one year and three weeks after being fired by the Pirates on May 8 last season after a 12-26 start. Somehow Shelton landed on his feet and immediately got another managerial job this season with Minnesota despite a .410 winning percentage with the Pirates. The Twins, even after doing a mini fire sale at the deadline last year, are hovering around .500, at 26-27 in a bad AL Central division and doing better than most had predicted.
Derek Shelton and Don Kelly spent five plus seasons together in Pittsburgh
Don Kelly was hired by Shelton as his bench coach in the offseason before the 2020 season and spent the past six seasons in the dugout with Shelton. Kelly has been criticized as managing the team too much like Shelton and starting Friday we’ll get to see their teams face off against each other. Eventually this team needs to start stacking wins and there’s no better time than at home at the expense of a slumping Cubs team and then by beating your former manager.
Jhostynxon and Esmerlyn Coming to PNC Park
The Password made his MLB debut in St. Louis last week and then Esmerlyn made his MLB debut in Toronto this past weekend, but now both will likely be making their debut at PNC. The Password and Magician coming to PNC Park. I like that sound of that, and I can’t wait to see it. Hopefully this week will be the start of long careers manning the outfield at PNC Park.
Esmerlyn got his first hit and home run Sunday afternoon in Toronto and now Garcia will be looking for his first HR of his young MLB career. I’m looking for both players to get some run time to see what both can do in the Majors. And I’m intrigued by how the playing time will pan out. The Pirates have five outfielders currently—Garcia, Valdez, Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Jake Mangum. With Marcell Ozuna on the roster, the DH position is kind of spoken for. Cruz did start at DH Sunday and Ozuna got the day off, but at this point Mangum shouldn’t start any games this week in my opinion. You need to play Garcia and Valdez as much as you can. You aren’t going to sit Reynolds or Cruz very many games either so I wonder if Valdez will play some first base (he made 15 starts at 1B last year in the minors) as well or how Kelly will handle the playing time here.
I think my main outfield would be Garcia, Cruz and Reynolds. I would then give Ozuna three or four days off this homestand, DH Cruz and Reynolds those games and get Valdez in the lineup those days. Again, Mangum shouldn’t get a start this homestand, and he wouldn’t be in my scenario as manager. Let’s see what the Password and the Magician can do.
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