Pirates may regret Oscar Marin decision if Reds hand him a promotion

The Pittsburgh Pirates decided last offseason that Oscar Marin had taken their pitching staff as far as he could. Now, one year later, a division rival might decide he is exactly the person it wants leading its own.

Marin is officially a candidate to become the Cincinnati Reds' next pitching coach after president of baseball operations Nick Krall confirmed that both Marin and assistant pitching coach Matt Tracy have interviewed for the vacancy created by Derek Johnson's departure. And if Cincinnati ultimately hands Marin the promotion, the Pirates may have to wonder whether they were a little too eager to move on.

Pittsburgh declined to retain Marin following the 2025 season after six years as its pitching coach. The move was surprising considering pitching had become arguably the greatest organizational success story of the Ben Cherington era.

The Pirates finished 2025 with a 3.76 ERA, third-best in the National League, and led MLB with 19 shutouts. More importantly, Marin helped shepherd an entire wave of young pitchers — including Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft — into the major leagues.

After gathering input from pitchers, the organization determined that the staff could reach another level with a different voice. Don Kelly later explained that Pittsburgh wanted somebody who could continue challenging its young arms, ultimately replacing Marin with former Houston Astros pitching coach Bill Murphy.

Former Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin thriving with division-rival Reds

The Pirates moving on from Marin was a controversial decision, to say the least. The early results from Murphy in Pittsburgh have been far from conclusive, ranging from Paul Skenes' disappointing campaign to breakout seasons for Braxton Ashcraft and Mason Montgomery.

Marin, meanwhile, found success almost immediately in Cincinnati. He landed with the Reds as their bullpen coach, and when Johnson took an indefinite personal leave in June, Marin helped Tracy handle the pitching staff's responsibilities. Now, with Johnson not returning, Marin has a legitimate opportunity to climb right back into the same role Pittsburgh decided he was no longer suited to fill.

Even more interestingly, Cincinnati is undergoing a broader pitching-development reset. Johnson wasn't merely the big-league pitching coach; he helped shape the organization's philosophy from the majors through the minors. Whoever takes over will become an important voice as the Reds try to fix a staff Krall specifically criticized for issuing too many walks and hit-by-pitches. That could give Marin another chance to prove Pittsburgh underestimated him.

The Pirates shouldn't automatically regret making a change. Murphy inherited one of baseball's most talented collections of young pitching, and Pittsburgh's arms remain the foundation of everything the organization hopes to accomplish. But Marin helped build that foundation.

If he now takes over Cincinnati's staff, improves one of Pittsburgh's NL Central rivals and turns the Reds' pitching operation into his next developmental success story, the Pirates' decision to let him walk is going to become significantly harder to defend.

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