Carmen Mlodzinski Placed on Restricted List; Pirates Picher Has Not Requested Trade
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates decision to move Carmen Mlodzinski back to the bullpen took an ugly turn when it was announced just before Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Twins that the team placed him on the restricted list. Mlodzinski has not requested a trade from the team.
While on the restricted list, Mlodzinski does not count against the 40-man roster, will not be paid and won’t earn service time. There is no minimum or maximum time a player must spend after he is placed.
“Carmen informed us this morning that he was not ready to pitch today,” general manager Ben Cherington said. “So, we made the decision to place him on the restricted list for today.”
Mlodzinski was taken out of the starting rotation for Jared Jones, who returned from the 60-day injured list to start Friday’s game against Minnesota.
Mlodzinski met with the media following Thursday’s game to discuss the decision.
“Obviously, just excited to have Jared back with us,” he said. “I can honestly say I’m just still communicating with the organization and the people in my corner, whether that’s my family or my agency, about what is next. I really don’t have any comments after that.”
The Pirates initially informed Mlodzinski of the decision on Wednesday during a “challenging” conversation, as described by Cherington.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Mlodzinski didn’t feel mentally or physically ready to pitch on Sunday and didn’t want to leave the team a man short in the bullpen, but he seems to be on board with his new role and is getting ready for it when the team travels to Houston on their upcoming road trip.
Cherington believes he could pitch for the Pirates on the road trip.
“I believe we’ve made a lot of progress with him around what his role was gonna be and how we can work with him in that role to help the team win,” he said. “Confident we’re gonna see him pitch for this team very soon, but he wasn’t ready to do that today.”
Mlodzinski, 27, made 11 appearances/nine starts to begin the season prior to getting bumped to the bullpen and went 4-3 with a 3.76 ERA in 55 innings. The two times Mlodzinski was used out of the bullpen was in a bulk relief role following an opener.
For most of his big-league career, Mlodzinski had been used out of the bullpen. He pitched almost exclusively as a reliever for the first two years of his career from 2023-24 outside of pitching as an opener on occasion.
The Pirates opened last season with Mlodzinski as part of their starting rotation, but the right-hander struggled and was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis in the middle of May. When he returned, he pitched out of the bullpen and finished with a 2.12 ERA over his final 24 appearances to end the season.
Despite their immediate decision and Mlodzinski’s track record in the bullpen, the Pirates aren’t closing the door on the possibility of him starting games again.
“We understood how strongly Carmen desires to start, how important that is to him,” Cherington said. “We believe he can do that, he can be a starting pitcher and can be a starting pitcher in the future, also. But we made that decision.”
The Pirates recalled RHP Cam Sanders from Triple-A Indianapolis in place of Mlodzinski. This will be the fourth stint with Pittsburgh this season for Sanders, who has a 10.80 ERA in five appearances.
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Pirates, once again, made the wrong decision. Chandler should’ve been removed instead. Mlodzinski was having a nice and steady season so far, I don’t agree with how he reacted to it, as it comes off very “me first before team”. That being said, he should have never been put in that situation in the first place.