Pirates have a season-threatening weakness they can't wait until July to fix

The Pirates can only hide from their late-inning demons for so long. Give Don Kelly credit for pulling all the strings available to him, but the Pirates manager is running out of options.

Sure, the promotion of Antwone Kelly is intriguing. Adding Carmen Mlodzinski to the bullpen mix should help in the long term, and Wilber Dotel has been a pleasant surprise this season. However, none of those players should be used in late-inning relief in a healthy bullpen.

That fatal flaw came to a head on Tuesday night against the Dodgers. Paul Skenes gave the Pirates six good innings against one of the best lineups in baseball. Then, the floodgates opened when the Pirates asked Dotel, a 23-year-old rookie pitching in an unfamiliar spot, to take over in the seventh. Pittsburgh predictably lost in blowout fashion. The time is now to find a fix, even if it means going outside the organization to find a solution.

June is a pivotal month for the Pirates and the schedule isn't getting any easier. Following a homestand against the Dodgers and Marlins, Pittsburgh heads out west for a road trip against the A's and Rockies. Those are winnable games, but not if they have to rely on their beleaguered bullpen to hold late leads.

Sure, Gregory Soto is stable in the ninth, but the likes of Dennis Santana and Mason Montgomery cannot be relied upon as setup men to build a pitching bridge to their closer. The Pirates bullpen ERA is 4.30, ranking 17th in all of baseball. Many of the NL Wild Card contenders they're competing against rank above them in that department, including the Padres, Phillies, Cubs and Cardinals.

Pirates must keep searching for bullpen answers, both internally and externally

I'm hardly the first pundit to suggest the Pirates make a trade before the August deadline to fix this very problem, and Ben Cherington has reportedly already made some calls on that front. Whether it be acquiring another true closer in Antonio Senzatela or even JoJo Romero from the rival Cards, both of whom are reportedly available, Cherington could be forced to overpay to keep the Pirates in the playoff race.

A far more likely solution in the interim is for the Pirates to try out more in-house options for seventh and eighth-inning roles. That means more appearances for Dotel, Mlodzinski, and perhaps even moving Bubba Chandler to the bullpen should he struggle in the rotation.

The Pirates already have 13 blown saves in 2026. That's not good enough for an organization trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2015, full stop. Something has to change.

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