Ben Cherington’s deadline task is already clear enough on paper: the Pirates need relief help, they need more stability in the lineup, and they can’t keep leaning on internal fixes to solve problems that have been hanging around for months.
What makes the Aug. 3 deadline trickier is that a few players are muddying the picture. One is barely contributing but still hanging around.
One is supposed to be finishing games but has slipped. One looked finished a month ago and now has a pulse again.
That mix leaves Cherington with more questions than clean answers.
Marcell Ozuna is the easiest place to start, because the production is brutal. Through June, he was hitting .200/.279/.324 with a 67 wRC+. For a player whose value is supposed to come from the bat, that’s a tough line to carry.
Still, the Pirates don’t seem eager to cut bait. Cherington has made it clear Pittsburgh values Ozuna’s presence in the dugout, even though his playing time has dried up for obvious reasons. The issue is that the Pirates are not paying him $12 million to function like a bench coach, even if that is what the role has started to look like.
That matters at a deadline where every roster spot counts. If Pittsburgh is serious about improving, it has to be willing to admit that a bat-first veteran who isn’t hitting and isn’t playing regularly is restricting what else it can do.
It makes it tougher to add another bench bat. It makes it tougher to keep a younger player who might bring more athleticism, defense or upside.
And it makes it harder to justify adding offense if the club won’t acknowledge that one of its internal spots has already become a problem.
Ozuna may not block a move outright, but he forces Cherington to decide how much a clubhouse reputation is worth when August and September start to matter.
Gregory Soto is creating a different kind of headache. He has allowed at least one earned run in five of his last eight appearances, which is usually the kind of stretch that gets a closer’s role under the microscope. The problem for Pittsburgh is that there isn’t an obvious replacement waiting to take over.
The bullpen has been unstable across the board. The roles are fuzzy.
Trust has been hard to build and even harder to keep. Soto is still closing mostly because nobody else has clearly taken the job from him.
That doesn’t mean his hold on the role should be treated as secure.
If the Pirates had a dominant right-handed reliever, Soto’s recent stretch would look a lot worse. If they had a dependable setup arm, they could at least ease him out of the highest-leverage spots for a bit.
Instead, they may have to keep running him out there while he works through it, even if the save chances keep coming. That’s a dangerous place for a team that thinks it can still matter in the postseason.
The slump also sharpens the deadline need. Pittsburgh already needed bullpen help. Now it may need someone who can actually pressure the closer, not just patch the middle innings.
That is a much tougher market to shop in.
Then there’s Dennis Santana, who is making Cherington’s life harder by pitching better. A little more than a month ago, Santana looked close to unplayable.
He wasn’t locating, and he couldn’t be trusted in leverage. Since then, he has quietly put up a zero in eight of his last nine outings.
That’s a real development. The Pirates badly need a right-handed reliever who can steady the bridge to Soto, and Santana has done that job before. The question is whether Cherington can trust this version to stick.
If Santana keeps it going, Pittsburgh could start treating him as part of the internal answer. Pair him with Isaac Mattson, who has allowed just one run over six innings since being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on June 13, and the right-handed relief picture suddenly looks less bleak.
But neither run should be mistaken for a final solution. Santana’s nine-outing stretch is encouraging, not conclusive.
Mattson’s sample is even smaller. Those are signs of life, not proof the bullpen is fixed.
Santana is complicating the deadline because he gives the Pirates something to believe in. That’s useful.
It’s also not enough. A bullpen with Santana as one of several reliable right-handed options is one thing.
A bullpen counting on Santana to be the answer is something else entirely.
In Other News...
Andrew McCutchens Next Career Move Will Hit Pirates Fans Hard
Andrew McCutchens next stop is another reminder that the veteran outfielder is still determined to keep playing, even as the road gets harder. After his brief stint with the Texas Rangers ended with a .192 average in 83 plate appearances, he has landed another opportunity and is expected to begin in the minors as he tries to work his way back into form.
For Pirates fans, it is the kind of update that lands with a little extra weight because McCutchen remains so closely tied to the franchises modern identity. The path back now runs through a new organization and a proving ground he has not needed in the past, but the familiar name is still out there, still chasing another chance to matter at the major league level. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Veterans Are Saying What Fans Have Waited Years To Hear
When the Pirates added Ryan O'Hearn on a two-year deal and brought in Brandon Lowe, they were making a clear bet on veteran bats that could change the tone of the lineup. Both players have delivered in 2026, with O'Hearn giving Pittsburgh steady production and Lowe providing the kind of middle-infield power the club has been missing, all while settling into roles that have made the offense look deeper and more dangerous.
What has stood out just as much is the way both veterans have talked about the group around them. O'Hearn and Lowe have each pointed to similarities between this Pirates roster and the playoff teams they came from, seeing a club that plays with fearlessness, motivation and a willingness to answer back when challenged. For a fan base that has waited a long time to hear that kind of language attached to Pittsburgh, it is at least a meaningful sign that the clubhouse believes this start is about more than a hot stretch. [Read more 🡒]