The Pirates have gone from afterthought to legitimate postseason possibility in 2026, but the roster still has a glaring soft spot: the bullpen. Pittsburgh’s offense has done its part, yet the relief corps remains shaky enough to threaten everything else the club has built.
That’s why ESPN’s David Schoenfield is pushing the Pirates to make a move for Aroldis Chapman, the hard-throwing closer currently with the Boston Red Sox. In Schoenfield’s view, Pittsburgh needs to address its Gregory Soto problem by bringing Chapman back into the picture through a trade.
“The Pirates are in the bottom half of the majors in bullpen ERA and win probability added as Gregory Soto, the primary closer, has a terrible ratio of 11 saves to four blown saves and is too erratic to be a playoff closer,” Schoenfield writes. “Of course, they need to get there first, which is why they need Chapman.
Chapman has been one of the best relievers in baseball this season, posting a 2.19 ERA. At 38 years old, he may not be a forever fix, but he would give Pittsburgh immediate help in 2026.
There’s also a longer-term wrinkle. If Chapman reaches 40 innings pitched in 2026, his 2027 option would vest, giving the Pirates an extra year of club control.
For a team trying to turn promise into an actual run, the fit is obvious. Pittsburgh can’t afford to keep leaning on Soto in the ninth inning, and Chapman would represent the best possible upgrade at the deadline. It wouldn’t lock up a playoff berth by itself, but it would patch one of the club’s weakest areas and give the Pirates a move that could energize the push toward October baseball.
In Other News...
Pirates Outfield Depth Just Took Another Hit At The Worst Time
The Pirates added Dominic Fletcher to their organization for exactly the kind of insurance clubs hope they never need to use, a minor league outfielder with some big league experience who could be kept close in case injuries thinned the major league group. Instead, he spent most of the season at Triple-A, where he gave Pittsburgh a layer of depth behind an outfield that has already needed extra help.
Fletchers decision to move on only adds to the sense that the Pirates are patching together that part of the roster as the summer rolls on. A former White Sox and Diamondbacks outfielder, he gives another team a chance to look at a player with a bit of major league history, while Pittsburgh now has to keep sorting through its next internal option if the big league outfield gets hit again. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates May Finally Have To Trade A Top Infield Prospect
The Pirates trade deadline picture is starting to look less about adding another bat and more about making a hard choice from within. With a deep group of middle infielders and a bullpen that needs real help if this team wants to hang around the postseason race, the front office may have to decide whether prospect patience is worth more than solving a more immediate problem.
Termarr Johnson remains the most intriguing name in that conversation because the talent is still obvious, even with his uneven production in Triple-A this season. Pittsburgh has enough infield options on the roster and in the system to make a deal make sense, especially if it can land a controllable late-inning arm, but the price of that upgrade could force the Pirates to part with one of their more prominent young infield pieces. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Future Gets A Lift As Outfield Depth Suddenly Shifts
The Pirates farm system got a notable boost with the news that Seth Hernandez and Edward Florentino will represent the organization in the 2026 MLB All-Star Futures Game. For a club that has spent plenty of time trying to build a deeper pipeline, getting two prospects onto that stage is a reminder that some of the best help in Pittsburgh is still on the way, even if it is not arriving all at once.
Hernandezs ascent has been especially eye-catching, while Florentino has given the Pirates another young name worth tracking in the outfield mix. At the same time, the organizations outfield picture keeps shifting around the edges, with Tommy Pham landing elsewhere after a minor league deal with the Phillies, leaving the Pirates to sort through a group that already has a different look than it did just a short time ago. [Read more 🡒]