Pirates bullpen depth could get tested out of the gate in 2024

The Pirates' bullpen was supposed to be the strength of the team, and it's depth could be tested immediately.

Photo Credit: WTM

*Story updated at bottom to include news on Opening Day roster announcement.

After signing Aroldis Chapman in free agency, it helped cement their bullpen as the best position unit for the Pirates.

Entering camp, they had two with extensive experience in their careers, as well as multiple All-Star bids. It also has several players who were starting to show an ability to pitch in late-game situations.

Now, as we are at the end of Spring Training, the bullpen may be one of the bigger questions marks entering the season, at least to start.

Money Moreta

Things started almost immediately, as Dauri Moreta went down early in camp with an elbow injury. He eventually had surgery and will miss the entire 2024 season.

Moreta burst onto the scene last year after being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in the Kevin Newman trade. He was among the league leaders in strikeout, and whiff rates out of the bullpen.

His 40-man roster spot was filled with the signing of outfielder Michael A. Taylor.

Relievers slowed down in camp

Not only did Moreta suffer an injury, but a few pitchers have been limited in camp, which may impact the start of the regular season.

David Bednar was the most notable, as he’s pitched just twice in actual Spring Training games. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe he will miss time, but there is the chance he is limited to begin the year.

Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski have been dealing with illness or injury that has limited their time on the field.

Jason Mackey said in a tweet after talking to Holderman that the illness he was dealing with forced him into the hospital and that he lost 15 pounds from it.

He hasn’t pitched since March 12th unless he’s been able to build himself back up in that time, a stint on the injured list may be where he starts the season.

Mlodzinski has been dealing with forearm tightness and hasn’t pitched in a game since March 13th. In Todd Tomczyk’s injury update, he mentioned that Mlodzinski was long tossing but hadn’t thrown a bullpen session since then.

If everything comes back good, there still seems to be less likely that Mlodzinski will begin the season active than Holderman.

Who is left?

If Holderman and Mlodzinski begin the year on the injured list, that’s potentially three bullpen spots they must fill now, and that’s if the consensus is that this is who is making the team;

David Bednar - R

Aroldis Chapman - L

Ryan Borucki - L

Roansy Contreras - R

Josh Fleming - L

The team announced that Contreras will pitch out of the bullpen to begin the year, and Fleming will probably help out in multi-inning stints to start. That does give them three lefties already, with a couple more potentially making their way in.

40-man options

Looking at who they have already optioned to the minors, there are four players on the 40-man roster that they could choose to bring back up to fill out the bullpen.

Jose Hernandez - L

Kyle Nicolas - R

Colin Selby - R

Braxton Ashcraft - R

Nicolas and Selby struggled with control during Spring games but also have major league experience (albeit a very small sample size). They’d give the Pirates a couple more right-handed arms, especially considering that Bednar could start somewhat limited, leaving Contreras as the only other righty.

Hernandez has the most major league experience at the moment, but he also struggled with his control, and it would give them a fourth lefty in the bullpen.

He was added to the 40-man in the off-season, but Ashcraft is one of the system’s top prospects and did well last year in shorter outings. The Pirates worked Contreras out of the bullpen in 2022 when injuries built up to begin the season.

Bailey Falter wasn’t listed above, as he has been optioned (he can’t), but he was fighting for one of the rotation spots.

He hadn’t pitched well in camp, making him a DFA option to open a roster spot for another pitcher. But with the number of injuries, could that buy him another week into the regular season?

Non-roster options

I reviewed some of the non-roster players standing out in camp the other day, specifically the pitchers.

Three specific players have a strong case at making the Opening Day roster, especially if Holderman and/or Mlodzinski start the year on the injured list.

Brent Honeywell Jr. - R

Hunter Stratton - R

Wily Peralta - R

You could argue that the first two have worked their way into the bullpen before any other spots open.

Stratton has yet to allow a run this Spring, and Honeywell has pitched well outside an outing or two.

Peralta has had a quiet, solid camp and could fit in as someone who can throw multiple innings. That could come in handy early in the season as pitchers stretch out.

Where to make space?

I don’t generally like to speculate on this, but the issue with putting any of the three on the Opening Day roster is that they have to create a 40-man spot for them.

It's not exactly easy to find upwards of three roster spots.

It appears that one will be cleared, as it was reported that Ali Sanchez no longer had a locker. That would be one roster spot filling up.

You could also move on from Falter, as he struggled during Spring Training games or even one of Josh Palacios/Canaan Smith-Njigba.

Those would create the needed roster spaces to add potentially three players to the 40-man, with two more than likely.

Currently, it doesn’t seem like either Mlodzinski or Holderman should be out for an extended period.

It also won’t take very long for Bednar to catch up if he hasn’t already.

So, the Pirates will really just have to weather the first couple of weeks with a limited bullpen before returning to being one of the team’s strengths.

This is another reminder that pitching depth is important; adding another reliever is probably never a bad idea.

Update:

The Pirates add three non-roster players to the Opening Day roster, all three pitchers. Jared Jones made the rotation, so he will require a roster spot (Ali Sanchez).

When it comes to the bullpen, Hunter Stratton and Ryder Ryan made the team, so two more moves will need to be made.

This also means that Carmen Mlodzinski and Colin Holderman will start the year on the Injured List, at the current moment, it hasn’t been announced how long they will be out.

It won’t be Bailey Falter, either, as he made the Opening Day roster in the bullpen.

Ryan pitched in eight games this Spring, posting a 3.12 ERA while striking out 10 batters in 7.2 innings pitched. He made his major league debut last year, throwing one inning, striking out two, and walking a batter.

So, the bullpen will be tested to start without two of their key pieces but should have plenty of options should they need someone to go multiple innings. How things work in the later innings is remained to be seen, especially if Bednar is working with any kind of restrictions early on.