Pittsburgh Pirates: Blake Cederlind Needs to be on the Active Roster

With members of the bullpen who have no long term future with the Pittsburgh Pirates continuing to struggle, there is no reason for Blake Cederlind to not be promoted to the active roster

Stop me if you have heard this before… Blake Cederlind has a bright future ahead of him with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, that future needs to be now. To be honest, Cederlind should have already been on the active roster for the Pirates.

When summer camp began in July, Cederlind, unfortunately, tested positive for COVID-19. Thankfully, he has made a full recovery and is now pitching at the team’s alternative training site in Altoona. However, it is past time for him to leave Altoona and join the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 2020 season needs to be about the future for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Outside of, finally, starting to give Cole Tucker regular playing time, the team has not done much of that this season. One way to fix that is to get Cederlind into the bullpen pronto.

During spring training back in February and March, Cederlind was one player turning a lot of heads. In 4.2 innings of work he did not allow a hit, walked four batters and struck out nine. He did so while flashing a fastball that could routinely touch 100 MPH to go with a wicked slider.

Not only should Cederlind join the bullpen in a way to start to build for the future, but also because he would be an upgrade over some of the arms currently in the bullpen.

After another poor outing on Saturday afternoon, Dovydas Neverauskas now owns a 11.00 ERA and a 6.51 FIP this season. His career numbers, entering Saturday, were 6.98 and 5.90. So, the writing is on the wall about who Neverauskas is.

While designating Neverauskas for assignment to make room for Cederlind seems like a no brainer move, there are other moves that could be made as well. One could be to send out Tyler Bashlor for Cederlind.

While, yes, Bashlor has pitched a scoreless inning each of the last two nights for the Bucs, he struggled with control while doing so. He also still owns a 10.13 ERA to go with three walks issued and two batters hits in 2.2 innings pitched this season.

Like Neverauskas, the career numbers for Bashlor are not pretty. Bashlor entered play on Saturday with a 5.66 ERA, 6.24 FIP, 13.0% walk rate, and just a 19.0% strikeout rate in 55.2 career innings pitched.

Another possibility would be to option Nick Mears back to the alternative training site in exchange for Cederlind. Like Cederlind, Mears figured to be a big part of the future of the Pirate bullpen. However, in the 3.1 innings he has pitched for the Bucs this season it is clear he is not MLB ready just yet. He has battled his control, has thrown more balls than strikes and has walked seven batters.

Regardless of what the corresponding move is, there is zero reason for Cederlind to continue to be at the team’s alternative training site and not with the Pirates. Cederlind possesses a power fastball and a nasty slider that would already make him one of the best relievers in the team’s bullpen. Throw in the struggles of others in the ‘pen and Cederlind appearing to be a big part of the Pirates’ future, and it is time for him to join the active roster.