Jose Osuna Should Remain with the Pirates

It is time for the Pittsburgh Pirates to go back to having a five-man bench

The 2018 Pittsburgh Pirates’ season is now 24 games old. For each of these 24 games, the Pirates have had a four-man bench and an eight-man bullpen. However, it is time for this to change. It is time for the Pirates to go back to having the traditional five-man bench, and the fifth player on the bench should be INF/OF Jose Osuna.

On Wednesday, the Pirates played a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. This allowed the team to promote a 26th player to their active roster and this player was Jose Osuna.

In Wednesday’s nightcap, Osuna started in right field for the Pirates. He would go on to take advantage of the opportunity he was given by going 2-for-4 with a 3-run home run in the 8-3 Pirate victory.

While it was not what I would have done, carrying an eight-man bullpen made sense for the Pirates when the season started. However, due to how well the starting rotation has done and the ineffectiveness of the underbelly of the bullpen carrying an extra reliever no longer makes sense.

The Pirates would be much better served with a five-man bench than an eight-man bullpen, and it is time to make that change.

Instead of optioning Osuna back to Triple-A today, the Pirates should designate Enny Romero for assignment. Not only would Osuna help the Pirates more than Romero would, Romer is, well, not very good.

It is also obvious that Clint Hurdle does not have much faith in Romero. He has been a Pirate for nearly two weeks now and, despite an extra-inning game and a doubleheader during that stretch, he has only pitched twice. Once came in a game the Pirates won 10-2, and the other came in a Pirate loss that the team was trailing when he entered. A reliever that is not trusted by his manager is a reliever that is useless.

Next: Bucs Take Game 2 of DH vs Tigers

The Pirates will have to make some sort of roster move before this afternoon’s 12:35 tilt with the Tigers. Whatever that roster move is, it should not involve optioning Jose Osuna to Triple-A. It is time for Osuna to stay in the Major Leagues.