With a roster that is mostly set for 2016, there is but one final piece of the puzzle for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have almost finished filling their needs this off-season, even though a good number of quality free agents still remained unsigned. It’s been a slow off-season across baseball, but the Pirates haven’t failed to address their holes following the 2015 season. They filled the starting rotation and added a few bench players and bullpen arms. Now, they really only have to fill out the bench and the bullpen to be ready for 2016 (at least, in the eyes of the organization).
One of the areas where the Pirates have plenty of options is in the bullpen. Depending on how many arms the Pirates decide to include on their Opening Day roster, the team most likely has one spot left that isn’t taken. Mark Melancon is slated to be the closer, with Tony Watson carrying over his role as the setup man. Neftali Feliz should be the seventh inning guy, with Jared Hughes, Arquimedes Caminero, and Juan Nicasio working in the middle relief roles. If the team using seven bullpen arms, as is most likely, they’re left with one spot. At the moment, they’ll have Rob Scahill, Kyle Lobstein, Trey Haley, Daniel Bard, and A.J. Schugel as internal options, and could still explore external options as well. Personally, I was a fan of Yoervis Medina, but he was designated for assignment recently to make room for Schugel on the 40-man roster.
What’s noticeable about the Pirates’ pen right now is that Watson is the only lefty. Last year, the Pirates had Antonio Bastardo to compliment Watson at the back-end, and even has Bobby LaFromboise pitch a few innings as well. Now, outside of Watson, the next best lefty option is Lobstein, a guy who owns a career 5.33 ERA, albeit in just two seasons of major league work. But the Pirates don’t necessarily need two lefties in the pen. It would certainly be preferable, but not necessary.
If we’re looking strictly at quality, I’d lean towards Bard, who may have the highest upside of the bunch. Then again, it may be best to start Bard in the minors and work on his mechanics there before he makes the leap back to the majors. And Schugel and Haley haven’t pitched in the majors yet.
So we circle back to Lobstein. The fact that he’s left-handed, and based on the factors I just stated, make him the most attractive option for the final bullpen spot at the moment. Of course, the Pirates could still go out and sign another reliever, and I’m sure there are still many options left that are better than Lobstein. The key for the Pirates, however, may be finding a better option that’s also left-handed.
Which makes you wonder why Pittsburgh didn’t extend an offer to Bastardo. Yesterday, Bastardo signed a two-year, $12 million deal, and Robert Murray of Baseball Essential reported that the Pirates offered him a two-year, $8 million deal. $4 million is not a large amount to lose out on a player by in the realm of baseball. We also saw Joe Blanton sign with the Dodgers recently on a one-year, $4 million deal, which also isn’t a lot for a quality reliever. Are the Pirates losing out on players because they aren’t willing to pay a few extra million? Or are they sticking to a strategy or fixing pitchers and then letting them walk, not banking on that success continuing?
Needless to say, the last spot in the Pirates’ bullpen is still a question mark, one that could have been filled by signing someone like Bastardo or Blanton. As of now, that spot probably belongs to Kyle Lobstein, but the off-season isn’t over yet. We’ll have a better idea of where the bullpen stands once spring training gets underway.
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