Pirates are continuing to ruin Carmen Mlodzinski as they keep him in starting rotation

Over the years during the Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton regime, there have been constant instances of decisions that fans examine by simply saying, "What are they thinking up there?" Well, here we are again, as the management of Carmen Mlodzinski has completely hurt this team and the player himself.

Placing Mlodzinski in the rotation was a bold decision during spring training, given his success out of the bullpen and the high number of top pitching prospects in the organization. After the collapse of Colin Holderman and roller coaster of David Bednar, having Mlodzinski throw out of the bullpen made the most sense all along.

The Jared Jones injury obviously set the starting rotation back, but in Triple-A, the Pirates have Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, Braxton Ashcraft, and Mike Burrows, all ranked within their top 30, according to MLB Pipeline. Harrington struggled in his short MLB stint, but regardless, at least then Pittsburgh would not have been down an outstanding reliever, and the production out of the fifth starter role may have been similar.

It is not an understatement to say how productive Mlodzinski was out of the bullpen either. In 2024, he posted a 3.38 ERA across 50.2 innings with a WHIP of 1.18. That came after a rookie season where his ERA was at a 2.25.

Then came 2025, though, wherehis ERA has climbed to 6.95 with a K/9 of 7.36 and a WHIP of 1.82 out of the rotation. His struggles have come when he faces batters the second and third time through the order, which is something Mlodzinski would not have to deal with out of the bullpen.

Pirates' mismanagement of Carmen Mlodzinski is hurting the team badly and the experiment should end.

The Pirates are currently in last place of the NL Central. If they want that to change, they simply cannot wait for Jared Jones to replace Mlodzinski in the rotation. His return is not anticipated until the middle of summer, and that is if you bake in zero setbacks. If he encounters any complications with his elbow again, that return could be delayed even longer.

Same goes for Johan Oviedo, who did have a setback during the spring and is building back up in his throwing program. He is not back to pitching just yet, so he cannot be the one to replace Mlodzinski either.

The best move to make here is to promote Bubba Chandler, one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. He is dominating Triple-A with a 1.33 ERA and an 11.95 K/9, but it appears that Cherington really wants that extra year of service time. It makes sense to manipulate things that way, given how money is managed in Pittsburgh, but Chandler was the Rookie of the Year favorite before the season, which would eliminate the service time manipulation trick if he won. That's exactly what happened with Paul Skenes last year.

Pittsburgh cannot afford for this void in the rotation to hold the team back right now. They need to end this experiment of Mlodzinski in the starting rotation before their hole is too big to climb out of.