Pirates reinstating Carmen Mlodzkinski indicates the drama was all for nothing

For roughly 48 hours, Carmen Mlodzinski became the biggest story surrounding the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Not Jared Jones' long-awaited return. Not Braxton Ashcraft's stellar outing. Not a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins. Instead, the conversation centered on why Mlodzinski was suddenly placed on the restricted list after informing the Pirates he wasn't ready to pitch out of the bullpen following his removal from the starting rotation.

Now, less than two days later, Mlodzinski is back. The Pirates reinstated him Monday, and the right-hander told Pirates insider Jason Mackey that he never requested a trade and will be available out of the bullpen beginning Tuesday in Houston.

"I want to do what's best to help us win baseball games," Mlodzinski said. "Of course I want to start and will always want that, but winning games takes precedence."

Which raises an obvious question: If this was always going to be the outcome, what exactly was accomplished by all the drama? The answer appears to be very little.

Carmen Mlodzinski drama was an unnecessary distraction from Pirates' winning efforts

Nobody should blame Mlodzinski for being disappointed. He earned his opportunity in the rotation and posted a respectable 3.76 ERA across 55 innings. For a player who has spent years trying to establish himself as a major-league starter, being told he was heading back to the bullpen for the second consecutive season had to be frustrating.

But frustration and refusing to be available are two very different things.

The reality is that Mlodzinski's brief stint on the restricted list created a distraction that overshadowed one of the Pirates' best weekends of the season. Pittsburgh swept the Twins, got a dominant performance from Ashcraft, welcomed Jones back into the rotation and climbed back to the .500 mark.

Yet almost none of that was the story.

Instead, fans, media members and rival executives spent the weekend speculating about clubhouse discord, trade demands and whether Mlodzinski's future with the organization was in jeopardy.

Now, after all of that speculation, he's right back where the Pirates expected (and frankly, needed) him to be: in the bullpen. The entire episode feels like a lose-lose situation.

The Pirates gained nothing from the distraction. Mlodzinski lost valuable goodwill after questions emerged about his willingness to put team needs ahead of personal goals. And the organization spent days answering questions about a controversy that no longer appears to exist.

In the end, Mlodzinski is back, the Pirates are moving forward and everyone appears committed to winning. Which makes it fair to wonder whether this entire saga could have been avoided in the first place.

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