Pirates' recent demotion speaks volumes about new trade acquisition's role

With the start of the regular season somehow less than a week away, the process of trimming the Pirates' roster down to 26 players is well underway. While some of the casualties from the earlier rounds of roster cuts — like Brandan Bidois, Evan Sisk, and Endy Rodriguez — were noteworthy, one transaction that flew a bit under the radar, but has wider implications, was the optioning of infielder Enmanuel Valdez.

After Nick Gonzales fractured his ankle rounding the bases after homering on Opening Day last season, it came as a bit of a surprise that Valdez — not Nick Yorke — was called up to take his spot. Valdez turned out to be one of the Pirates' better hitters for a while — in a 24-game stretch in April and May where the Pirates went 10-14 and scored 3.6 runs per game, Valdez posted an OPS of .816 with a near-elite K:BB ratio.

Even though he replaced Gonzales on the active roster, Valdez spent most of his time playing first base (with Spencer Horwitz also on the shelf) until a dislocated left shoulder in early May ultimately ended his season. He was a full-go coming into this spring, but he was already an underdog in the competition for a bench spot and his 2-for-26 line at the plate this spring sealed his fate.

Factoring in his early demotion from MLB camp and the amount of guys still in the running for a roster spot, Valdez may not be the first man up when the Pirates need a backup infielder next time around. That could end up being new Bucco Tyler Callihan.

Enmanuel Valdez's demotion signals to a more prominent role for new Pirate Tyler Callihan

The Pirates acquired Callihan from the Reds in early March in a straight swap for reliever Kyle Nicolas. That was just the latest in a series of arms-for-bats trades that have become commonplace for Ben Cherington and the Pirates in recent years (see: Burrows for Lowe, Oviedo for Garcia, Bednar for Flores, Ortiz for Horwitz, Priester for Yorke).

It's good business by the Pirates to turn Nicolas — a high-variance reliever who was far from guaranteed to break camp with the team — into a bat like Callihan, who is still only 25 and posted a .938 OPS at Triple-A Louisville in 2025. Like Valdez, Callihan is a left-handed hitter with some promising traits who can bounce around multiple spots across the diamond and whose 2025 campaign ended early due to injury (Callihan broke his arm in just his fourth career MLB game last May).

Callihan got off to a slow start this spring but said he's reportedly been "working on some stuff" that helped him hit his first spring home run on Wednesday against the Tigers. It's also worth mentioning the amount of reps he's getting in Pirates camp at third base, a position he'd only played once since 2022 and that the Pirates, despite tons of rumors and speculation, failed to address this offseason.

Callihan is still battling the likes of Gonzales, Yorke, and Alika Williams for a spot on the Pirates' bench to start the season. Of course, it's still unknown how many of those spots need accounted for, as 19-year-old phenom Konnor Griffin also remains in big league camp and still has a chance to be the team's starting shortstop right out of the gate.

While the Pirates obviously went to drastic measures (relatively speaking, at least) to improve the lineup this offseason, it was also important to add quality position player depth as well. Time will tell if Callihan can provide that, but that he's still in MLB camp bodes well for his chances of impacting the Pirates sooner rather than later.