The Pittsburgh Pirates have struggled since selling at the MLB Trade Deadline, going 4-9 since July 31. They’ve lost three of their four series this month and their last five games, getting outscored 97-63 in August.
One of the main reasons for the Pirates’ slide is the collapse of their bullpen, which has gone from one of the best units in baseball to one of the worst after losing David Bednar, Caleb Ferguson and Taylor Rogers at the deadline.
While Rogers never pitched for Pittsburgh, Bednar and Ferguson had a combined 3.10 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 81 1/3 innings for the Pirates this year. They’ve continued to flourish with their new teams, as Bednar has a 2.57 ERA for the New York Yankees and Ferguson has a 1.59 ERA for the Seattle Mariners.
In their absence, Don Kelly has had to lean more on guys like Cam Sanders (9.00 ERA), Kyle Nicolas (7.20 ERA) and Yohan Ramírez (7.31 ERA), who have been ineffective replacements thus far.
Through July 31, Pittsburgh’s bullpen ranked ninth in the Major Leagues in WAR (3.5), ninth in ERA (3.70) and 10th in FIP (3.76). Since the trade deadline, however, Pirates relievers are 2-5 with the second-worst ERA (7.78) in baseball, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies (7.88). They’re now tied with the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins for the third-most bullpen losses this year (27).
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It could just be a rough patch, while series at Coors Field and against the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers haven’t helped. However, Pittsburgh’s bullpen needs to pitch better for the team to win, especially given the state of the offense.
Part of that falls on Kelly to find the right matchups and deploy his relievers optimally, but that’s trickier now without two of his best bullpen arms. It’s also hard this time of year when pitchers start wearing down.
It will be interesting to see if the Pirates’ relief corps bounces back down the stretch. If not, Ben Cherington may need to pursue reinforcements this offseason.
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