Pirates bolster relief depth with two more acquisitions

On the heels of the Pirates' acquisition of former first-round pick Jake Woodford, the team has added two more experienced right-handed pitchers. On Tuesday, the Pirates agreed to terms on a minor league deal with Luis Cessa and claimed Dennis Santana off of waivers from the Yankees.

Santana will join the team in St. Louis, occupying the roster spot vacated by Ben Heller, who was designated for assignment during the team's off day after Niko Goodrum was claimed. The Pirates designated Jose Hernandez for assignment to make room for Santana on the 40-man roster. Cessa will report to Triple-A Indianapolis with Woodford.

The 28-year-old Santana had spent all of this season with the Yankees after spending the prior six seasons with the Dodgers, Rangers, and Mets. He has struggled to a 6.26 ERA through 23 appearances and has a career-worst 16.5% strikeout rate, but he is also posting his best walk rate since 2020 and a home run rate half of the league average, which is supported by his 3.91 FIP.

Santana's fastball - a sinker about two-thirds of the time - still averages a strong 95.6 MPH, and between his fastball and his two breaking pitches (a slider and a cutter), he boasts an 82nd-percentile chase rate. Even though this hasn't been translating into strikeouts, it still allows him to limit hard contact more often than other pitchers with his type of profile.

Cessa, 32, hasn't pitched in the majors since 2023, when he allowed 26 earned runs in 26 innings with the Reds. He was a fixture in the Yankees' bullpen from 2016-2021, posting a 4.19 ERA in 292 innings in the Bronx in that time. The pinnacle of his career was the 2021 season, during which he was traded from the Yankees to the Reds. Across both stops, his ERA was an excellent 2.51 in 53 relief appearances.

After his poor start to 2023, he was released by the Reds and has since bounced between the Rockies, Nationals, and Royals, failing to return to the majors at any of those stops. Cessa had been used almost exclusively as a starter with Triple-A Omaha this year and had a 3.89 ERA.

Jose Hernandez comes across as a surprise DFA. The 26-year-old left-hander pitched in 50 games with the Pirates in 2023 as a Rule 5 pick and, after a strong start, ended with a 4.97 ERA but a strong 27.8% strikeout rate. Now eligible to be optioned after exhausting his Rule 5 requirements, he has bounced between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis this year and struggled. His 3.38 ERA is not supported by his FIP (6.33) or his Triple-A ERA (7.04).

Hernandez was recently optioned after not being used out of the Pirates' bullpen for nine straight days, and upon his return to Indianapolis, his velocity plummeted. After averaging 94.6 MPH with his fastball last year, he averaged 91.9 MPH and topped out at just 92.7 MPH in his most recent outing.

After the recent struggles of pitchers like Ben Heller, Kyle Nicolas, and Carmen Mlodzinski, the heavy usage of all three of their back-end relievers (Colin Holderman, Aroldis Chapman, and David Bednar), plus injuries to starting pitchers Martin Perez and Quinn Priester, the team's pitching depth has been severely challenged as of late. Hopefully, the additions of Santana and Cessa prove valuable in rebuilding that depth.