Kyle Dubas didn’t need to weigh in on the Pirates. He did it anyway, and in the process he handed Ben Cherington a pretty clear reminder of how a front office should treat a team that keeps hanging around.
The spark came from a tweet by Pirates writer Adam Gretz, who pointed out that Pittsburgh has already lost seven games this season after blowing leads. He noted that while a blown game or two is part of a 162-game season, seven of them through the first 100 games can be the kind of thing that separates a playoff team from one that’s watching in October.
Gretz’s sharper point was even more brutal: if the Pirates had simply held on in the three games where their win probability topped 95%, they’d be 54-45, sitting in a playoff spot with some breathing room and still very much in the NL Central race.
That’s when Dubas jumped in with a message that was part encouragement, part accidental lesson for the Pirates’ baseball ops department:
"another Pittsburgh team had that very issue last winter and managed to rectify to make the playoffs. Keep the faith and Go Bucs!!"
Dubas was talking about his own Penguins, and he wasn’t wrong. Their 2025-26 season wasn’t a smooth climb at all.
They had their own ugly stretches, their own blown chances and their own moments when the year looked ready to slip away. But Dubas kept moving.
He made changes in December, first landing goaltender Stuart Skinner and defenseman Brett Kulak from Edmonton in a deal that sent Tristan Jarry and Sam Poulin the other way. Later that month, he brought in Egor Chinakhov from Columbus for Danton Heinen and two draft picks. By the trade deadline, Pittsburgh had also added Sam Girard, Ilya Solovyov and Elmer Soderblom through in-season deals.
The key was timing. Dubas didn’t sit on his hands and wait for the deadline to decide whether the Penguins were worth helping.
He saw a team that was in the fight, identified where it needed help and started acting months before the finish line. He even said at the deadline that the Penguins wanted to get players earlier because giving those additions more time to settle in would help the club.
That’s the part Cherington should be paying attention to.
The Pirates don’t need a front office sermon about how unlucky they’ve been. They don’t need someone to stand at the deadline and recite all the games that slipped away because Dennis Santana didn’t get one more out, Gregory Soto didn’t escape an inning, or the bullpen didn’t finish another late lead. They need action.
Seven blown-lead losses don’t magically make this one of baseball’s best teams. You can’t just erase those games from the standings and assume everything else would have played out the same way. But when a team is still in the race despite repeatedly giving away games it had nearly won, the response from the front office should be urgent.
The most obvious problem is right there in plain sight. The bullpen has been stretched thin, and too often the Pirates have asked an unstable group of relievers to protect leads built by a lineup and rotation that have done enough to win.
Cherington doesn’t need to blow up the farm system or make a reckless move because of seven ugly losses. But he also can’t let prospect value, payroll concerns or fear of losing a trade years from now become excuses for doing nothing while the season is right in front of him.
Dubas offered a useful model there too. The Chinakhov deal cost the Penguins second- and third-round draft picks, but Dubas was willing to spend future assets because he saw a player who could help now and still fit beyond a single playoff push. Chinakhov answered by scoring 18 goals in his first 43 games with Pittsburgh as the Penguins pushed toward the postseason.
That’s the balance Cherington should be chasing. It doesn’t have to be expensive rentals for two months.
It can be controllable relievers. It can be bullpen help with upside that matters now and into 2026.
It can be another real major league bat if the right opportunity shows up.
It just can’t be nothing.
The Penguins eventually clinched their playoff berth in Game 79 out of 82 after starting the season with very low outside expectations. Dubas didn’t do it alone, of course.
Dan Muse and his staff deserve credit, and so do the players who actually turned things around. But the front office gave the team help.
By the time Pittsburgh reached the postseason, Dubas had added Skinner, Chinakhov, Girard, Soderblom, Arturs Silovs, Tommy Novak, Connor Dewar and Connor Clifton over the previous year. The Penguins also held onto Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell when it would have been easier to move veterans for future assets.
Dubas saw a team ready to compete and acted like it. Now Cherington has to do the same.
The Pirates have already spent too many nights staring at games they let get away. At some point, those losses have to be treated as proof that this team deserves reinforcement. If not, they may look back in October and realize two or three games were the difference all along.
In Other News...
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For the Pirates, the appeal is obvious: they do not need a wholesale makeover, just a few more trustworthy outs when games tighten up in the late innings. That is why the Mets bullpen situation matters so much in Pittsburgh, where the front office can now weigh fit, health and cost against a market that suddenly has more options than it did a few days ago. [Read more 🡒]
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Cruz is currently on the 60-day injured list with a hand injury, and the timing only adds another layer to a decision that could say plenty about how aggressive the Pirates want to be. If the club is serious about upgrading the bullpen and possibly adding another starter, moving a recognizable piece from a crowded outfield would be a bold way to do it, especially with the deadline pressure starting to build. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Just Reached A Crucial Spencer Horwitz Turning Point
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The timing matters because the Pirates have been piecing together their lineup around a wave of injuries, including absences for Endy Rodrguez, Konnor Griffin and Oneil Cruz. Horwitzs return would help steady a spot that has already required some shuffling, and the next step will be seeing how he responds once game action resumes in Bradenton. [Read more 🡒]