Demilio: Pirates Finally Showing Some Refreshing Urgency

The Pittsburgh Pirates are now in their sixth season since a full regime change that resulted in Ben Cherington as general manager and Derek Shelton as manager.

With the new faces came a full-scale tear down of the previous roster in hopes of adding as many young assets as possible to build for the future.

Six years later, the Pirates are still waiting for the future to become the present.

The Pirates went 19-41 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and were 100-game losers in both 2021-22. 2023 brought promise as the Pirates made a 14-game improvement from the previous year and won 76 games. But the momentum stalled out with an identical 76-86 record in 2024.

This offseason didn’t inspire much confidence either. The Pirates stuck to their status quo in free agency and trades. To put it one way, all that was done to fix a leaking roof was patchwork when more substantial improvements were needed. That’s to say, the roof is still leaking.

Though losing has been the theme for the Pirates since the turn of the decade, there hasn’t been much urgency to try and turn things around. The organization has stuck to their process of emphasizing draft and development as well as internal improvement to try and make a leap towards contention.

No drastic measures have really been taken. Sure, there have been some offseason acquisitions, a few guys added during last year’s trade deadline, and some staff changes on Shelton’s staff, but nothing particularly eye-opening.

That was the case, until Tuesday afternoon.

The Pirates decided to promote one of their top prospects, right-hander Thomas Harrington, to start against the Tampa Bay Rays. That decision in itself is a good one, and one that might not have been made a couple of seasons ago.

Harrington was one of a couple pitchers hoping to land a spot in the rotation out of spring training. That spot eventually went to Carmen Mlodzinski, a converted reliever who made his season debut on Monday.

This early in the season, it would have been easy for the Pirates to simply let Harrington get more seasoning with Triple-A Indianapolis. Despite fairly-heavy usage of late, a bullpen game was certainly on the table.

Instead, the Pirates made the right decision to have Harrington make a start and save some bullpen arms in the process.

But that roster move isn’t even the one that’s truly telling.

To make room for Harrington on the active roster, the Pirates optioned struggling closer David Bednar to Triple-A. Just two years removed from his second All-Star season, Bednar not only lost the role of closer, but his roster spot altogether.

The decision to option Bednar could be a controversial one in the Pirates’ clubhouse considering his popularity amongst his teammates. Though sending him to Indianapolis could ruffle a few feathers, it’s logical, even if somewhat surprising.

It also sends a message — It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your career or what’s on the back of your baseball card. If a change is necessary, a change will be made.

Bednar’s fall from grace from his first three years in a Pirates’ uniform has been swift. After emerging as one of the top relievers in the game from 2021-23, he finished last season with a 5.77 ERA and has already taken two loses on the young season.

Bednar’s struggles again to start this year are one of the reasons the Pirates are off to a 1-4 start to the year. Making the tough call to avoid starting the year too far behind the 8-ball is wise and a welcomed change.

But if the Pirates’ slide continues, Cherington, Shelton, and even Bob Nutting, will have to prove they’re capable of showing continuing to show urgency.