Dennis Santana has completely fallen apart since Pirates' David Bednar trade

You don’t trade your All-Star closer who still has another year on his contract if you don’t think you have a viable option to replace him. So, when the Pirates sent David Bednar to the Yankees last year, the Pittsburgh brass must have had some amount of faith in its internal options. That pressure landed squarely on the shoulders of then-setup man Dennis Santana, who has since crumbled under the weight.

Entering play May 26, Santana had a 4.57 ERA and a 4.88 FIP dating back to the Bednar trade last season. In the week since, those numbers have only gotten worse. On Tuesday night against the Houston Astros, he entered in the ninth inning with a six-run lead only to be tagged for two more runs and removed from the game before he could record a second out.

Santana’s struggles have cost Pittsburgh and almost certainly played a role in the Pirates’ signing of Gregory Soto this offseason. His disastrous outing on Tuesday quickly turned the game into a save situation from which Soto had to bail him out. Unless Santana can recover his previous form, the once-promising reliever may be heading toward his final few weeks in the black and gold.

Since the trade of David Bednar, Dennis Santana has struggled to fill the All-Star’s shoes

Santana will become a free agent at the end of this season, and since relievers are always a valuable commodity at the trade deadline, the Pirates could consider shopping him to extract what little value he has left. It may be a hard sell, though, since Santana has allowed the fifth-highest slugging percentage in high-leverage situations since last year’s trade deadline. His numbers are even worse in medium-leverage situations.

So what’s to blame for Santana's fall from grace? For one, his most effective pitch, his slider, has suddenly become mediocre… or worse. In 2025, he went to the slider almost 50% of the time, and still, opponents couldn’t touch it. The pitch produced a .157 batting average and a plus-7 run value. In 2026, opponents are hitting .333 off Santana’s slider, which has a minus-5 run value. For the first time since 2023, the slider is not his go-to pitch, putting pressure on his four-seam fastball and changeup.

Santana has also lost velocity across the board. Aside from his cutter, all of his pitches have dropped roughly 1 mph since last season.

The wheels seem to be falling off for Santana, who is currently sporting his lowest strikeout rate of his career. If the Pirates hope to make a run at the postseason, they will need a solid bullpen. The best course of action here is to do what they did with Bednar: ship Santana to a team willing to make him a project. It’s time for him to make way for other arms.

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