The Pirates made their Camilo Doval decision fast, and it only deepened the weirdness around a trade the Yankees already regretted.
New York moved on from Doval at this summer’s deadline just one year after acquiring him, even though the club still had him under control through 2027. The bet, at the time, was that the Yankees would keep cycling through relievers and eventually land on better answers.
That part of the logic still stands. Doval was out, and the club figured the next arms in line would be a better fit by October.
Pittsburgh, though, got to the same conclusion in a hurry. Less than two months after bringing Doval in, the Pirates cut bait on Tuesday after their playoff elimination, clearing a spot to activate Kirby Yates for what could be the final appearances of his career. In other words, Doval’s stay in Pittsburgh ended before it ever really got going.
His numbers tell the story. Doval’s Pirates stint finishes, unless he clears waivers, with 19 hits and 14 walks allowed in 19 innings.
That works out to a 3.79 ERA, a 3.73 FIP and a 1.737 WHIP. Not exactly the kind of line that builds confidence.
The command problems that followed him around finally caught up with him after a few weeks of mostly surviving the damage. Pittsburgh had already decided its offseason non-tender call on Doval looked so obvious that it might as well make the move immediately.
The Yankees, meanwhile, sent Omar Alfonzo to Pittsburgh in the deal. Alfonzo hit .120 in 26 games with Somerset and finished with one home run. Still, the trade’s impact will likely be felt longer in New York’s system than Doval’s will be in Pittsburgh.
What keeps hanging over this whole thing is the earlier Yankees trade that brought Doval into the organization in the first place. New York gave up Jesus Rodriguez, a catcher now on the 60-Day who hit .268 with a .744 OPS this year, and Parks Harber, who posted an .815 OPS and is down to .739 at Triple-A. That move is the part that still makes people wonder why the Yankees thought Doval was a fixable fit in the first place.
The whole Doval trade tree is starting to look cursed. Pittsburgh can at least point to Rafael Flores Jr. as the catcher of the future it got back from the Yankees, but the rest of the deal has turned into a fast-moving mess.
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