Pirates’ Jared Jones rotation shuffle creates intriguing opening for September audition

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ decision to give Jared Jones an extra day before his next start looks like routine workload management on the surface. In September, though, it could become something much more useful.

With Jones now scheduled to start Friday against the Los Angeles Angels, Pittsburgh suddenly has an opening Thursday against the San Francisco Giants.

The Pirates could simply run back another Lake Bachar-Carmen Mlodzinski bullpen game. Or, with rosters expanding and the season entering its final month, they could use the vacancy for something more valuable: a legitimate audition for one of the young pitchers trying to force his way into the 2027 rotation picture.

Major League rosters expand from 26 to 28 players beginning Sept. 1, with teams allowed to carry as many as 14 pitchers. That gives Pittsburgh an additional pitching spot without forcing the usual corresponding roster move. Hunter Barco, who was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on Aug. 17, would be an obvious candidate to use it.

Pirates should use Jared Jones' postponed start as an opportunity to begin exploring pitching plans for 2027

Barco's major league results this season haven't exactly demanded another opportunity. He has struggled to consistently translate his prospect pedigree into big-league success, even though there have been flashes of the pitcher who entered the year competing for a rotation spot. That's exactly why Thursday could be useful.

At this point, the Pirates shouldn't be using September merely to survive the fifth spot in the rotation. They should be using every available inning to learn something about 2027. They already know what Bachar and Mlodzinski can provide in a bullpen game. The latter has bounced between starting and relief roles, while the former has become a useful multi-inning weapon.

Sending the same combination back out five days later might give Pittsburgh the best chance to piece together nine innings, but it doesn't answer many questions about the future. Barco might.

The 25-year-old entered 2026 as one of Pittsburgh's better pitching prospects after posting a 2.81 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A in 2025. He even expanded his arsenal over the offseason while attempting to prove he could stick as a major league starter. Now the Pirates need to determine whether that future still exists.

Khristian Curtis should eventually become part of this conversation, too. Curtis has thrown eight scoreless major league innings across two appearances this season and was optioned back to Indianapolis on Aug. 25. Because pitchers generally must remain in the minors for 15 days after being optioned, Curtis isn't the simple solution for Thursday, barring an applicable roster exception like an injury.

Jones' move might be presented as nothing more than workload management, and that's probably the primary motivation. After Friday's inefficient 4 2/3-inning outing against St. Louis, there's little reason to push a pitcher coming off a lost season just to preserve a perfectly orderly five-man rotation.

But protecting Jones can accomplish two things at once. The Pirates can manage the workload of a pitcher who remains critical to their future while turning the temporary holes around him into legitimate auditions. Thursday against the Giants would be a good place to start.

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