Pirates' most valuable non-tender just landed with the Guardians in free agency

The Pittsburgh Pirates officially lost Colin Holderman to the Cleveland Guardians in free agency this week, a move that—if you had told fans in, say, April of last season—might have caused a few raised eyebrows.

After all, Holderman came to Pittsburgh as part of the Daniel Vogelbach trade in 2022, pitched some genuinely solid innings at times, and entered this winter as a projected $1.7 million arbitration guy. That’s not nothing for a reliever in Pittsburgh’s world.

And yet, here we are: Holderman's gone, and the city of Pittsburgh collectively shrugged. Because let's be honest… his 2025 season rewrote his value.

All told, Holderman recorded a 4.39 ERA in 146 appearances over 3 1/2 seasons with the Pirates. But the final chapter of his tenure was a mess of injuries, velocity dips and vanishing reliability. His ERA ballooned up to 7.01, the WHIP climbed, and his leverage usage cratered. He arguably went from “late-inning weapon” to “why is this man pitching in a one-run game?” in record time.

By the end of the year, fans weren’t asking if Pittsburgh would non-tender him, but rather why this decision was taking so long. The Pirates simply weren’t going to pay $1.7 million for a reliever whose production, availability and consistency were all headed the wrong direction –– not with their bullpen holes, not with how many young arms they need to cycle through, not when the value just wasn’t there.

Holderman always projected as a “stuff-over-results” guy, and Pittsburgh has enough of those already. What they don’t have is dependability, and Holderman wasn't that anymore. He was a luxury the Pirates couldn’t justify and a risk they didn’t need to take.

And if there’s one team that loves a reclamation reliever, it’s the Guardians. They will take a guy with a funky pitch profile, tweak something microscopic, and boom — he’s suddenly throwing scoreless eighth innings in a pennant race.

Pirates won't miss Colin Holderman's volatility as they seek bullpen stability in 2026

Good for Holderman. Good for Cleveland. Good for everyone. But that doesn’t mean Pittsburgh should’ve been the one cutting the check for the rebound experiment.

Between Rule 5 decisions, the influx of young starters, and their newfound obsession with bullpen lefties after realizing they only had two on the entire 40-man roster, the Pirates were going to need every roster spot they could get. Holderman was simply not going to survive that crunch.

The Pirates have lost players before who really hurt. Holderman is not one of them. He had flashes, sure. He had moments. He had stretches of being legitimately good. But in 2025, the Pirates learned what the Mets knew when they traded him away –– he's replaceable.

In a winter where Pittsburgh desperately needs to get better, not simply stay the same, letting Holderman walk wasn’t just understandable—it was correct.

The Pirates will be just fine without him. Maybe even better.