Aroldis Chapman departure puts pressure on Pirates to fix former star reliever

Now that Aroldis Chapman has officially departed the Pittsburgh Pirates in free agency, it's time to talk about the elephant in the room – or, more specifically, in the Pirates' bullpen.

David Bednar is currently in line to be the Pirates' closer, but which version of him are we going to get in 2025? Will he be the lockdown, late-game weapon that earned back-to-back All-Star appearances in 2022-23? Or will he be the volatile, save-blowing liability that got demoted from the closer role late last season after his ERA blew up to 5.77?

Granted, health very likely played a factor last season, as Bednar missed almost all of spring training due to lat tightness and proceeded to allow 14 runs in 10 innings in a rough start to the season. He seemed to settle in over the next couple of months, but he then missed a couple of weeks leading into the All-Star break with an oblique strain. His season completely unraveled after the break, as he gave up 16 runs over his next 14 2/3 innings as the Pirates plummeted from playoff contention.

Aroldis Chapman departure puts pressure on Pirates to fix David Bednar

Bednar's situation last season was truly a conundrum. Despite his injuries, his average pitch velocity didn't change much year over year. Still, his strikeout rate – which had sat consistently in the high 20s to low 30s over the previous three seasons – tanked to just 22.1%. His walk rate also increased from 7.6% in 2023 to 10.7% in 2024.

Bednar was yanked from the closer role by late August, and the Pirates opted for a closer-by-committee approach with Chapman and Dennis Santana. But now, Chapman is gone, and the Pirates would almost certainly rather use Santana as a middle reliever or even a setup man in close games. Can Bednar return to his All-Star form in 2025?

The motivation behind Bednar's removal from the closer role last year was largely a shift in focus toward getting him right for next season after the Pirates fell out of contention. Now, without Chapman there as a safety net, the pressure is on Bednar and the Pirates' coaching staff to prove that his confounding 2024 season was nothing more than a fluke.

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