Pirates have already won the Spencer Horwitz trade before he even debuts

First baseman Spencer Horwitz, the Pittsburgh Pirates' most significant offseason acquisition, has yet to appear in a game for his new club. And yet, somehow, the Pirates are still looking like the winners of the trade.

Pittsburgh acquired Horwitz from the Cleveland Guardians during MLB Winter Meetings in exchange for right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz and left-handed pitching prospects Josh Hartle and Michael Kennedy. The initial consensus was that the Pirates dramatically overpaid for Horwitz, especially by including Ortiz – a swing man who became a key piece of their starting rotation in 2024 – but Ortiz's most recent start for the Guardians suggests that Pittsburgh may have cut ties at the right time.

Ortiz was all over the place in Cleveland's 5-1 loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday, striking out eight batters, walking five, allowing four earned runs and five hits. He did it all while throwing a career-high 104 pitches in just 4 1/3 innings, blowing the Guardians' chance to sweep the Yankees at home for the first time since 1970. Yikes.

After Ortiz walked Ben Rice to start the game, Aaron Judge tripled high off the center field wall. Ortiz then walked Cody Bellinger and gave up a double to Paul Goldschmidt to score Judge for a 2-0 Yankees lead. He proceeded to end the inning with three straight strikeouts. As one does.

The Yankees quickly added two more runs in the second inning as Ortiz continued to spiral. He gave up another leadoff walk, this time to Jasson Dominguez, who stole second and scored on a single from Rice. Judge followed with a single to left that moved Rice to second. A Bellinger fly ball moved Rice to third, and a Goldschmidt single scored him.

Ortiz then walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. to load the bases, followed by a strikeout of Anthony Volpe to end the inning. The strikeouts are nice, but safe to say command remains an issue with Ortiz.

Pirates have already won the Spencer Horwitz trade before he even debuts thanks to Luis Ortiz's struggles in Cleveland

Wednesday's start hasn't been the only rocky one for Ortiz this season. He had an especially rough season debut for Cleveland, when he allowed seven runs on nine hits and four walks against the San Diego Padres on March 31.

Ortiz's next three starts – including his first against the Pirates on April 18 – were decent. He allowed a total of six runs on 12 hits and just five walks with 21 strikeouts over 16 2/3 innings during that span.

In fairness, it's too early to say with certainty that Pittsburgh "won" the trade by landing Horwitz. But if Cleveland's strategy of letting Ortiz pitch through his mistakes doesn't eventually lead to improved results, then it certainly won't look like much of a loss for Pittsburgh.

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