Why Pirates' controversial DFA of fan favorite is a better move than it seems

When news broke that the Pirates were protecting six prospects from the Rule 5 draft, it was tough to forecast who would be getting DFA'd as a result. Three of the four players were expected, but the fourth being Dauri Moreta was a total surprise.

At first, it was a shock. He was a fan favorite, had legit strikeout stuff, and put together a dominant 2023 season before undergoing Tommy John surgery. But once you look deep into his brief return in 2025, it became clear that he was not the same pitcher, and the key trait that made him a quality reliever had taken a significant hit.

Pirates' controversial move to cut Dauri Moreta isn't as bad of a move as fans initially thought.

That big tool he had was his slider. The pitch was unique, breaking arm side with nasty movement. In 2023, that pitch generated a 40.8% whiff rate with a 38.2% strikeout rate and a .245 xSLG. It was his out pitch, and helped him post a 3.72 ERA with a 2.93 FIP. Losing that weapon made the surgery hurt Pittsburgh so much more in 2024.

When he returned to the Pirates in 2025, his slider was still generating a strong 38.7% whiff rate, but hitters were squaring it up far more often. Opponents' xSLG against the pitch reached .503, and the hard-hit rate attached to it jumped from 27.2% to 34.8%. Even in a much smaller sample size, hitters were clearly doing much better against it. So if it was still getting quality swings and misses, what changed?

In 2023, his slider had 8.3 inches of horizontal break towards his glove side. Paired with 38 inches of vertical break, the pitch was really tough to hit. In 2025, that horizontal break dropped substantially to 2.7 inches. The vertical break stayed about the same 37.9 inches, but without the horizontal action, the pitch lost most of its value.

Despite Moreta still holding a 3.24 ERA through 16.2 innings, the underlying results were not encouraging long-term. Opponents were batting .262 against him, and his groundball rate of just 26.2% was not sustainable.

Because of these factors, the Pirates cut ties early. Some might believe that he should have gotten more of a grace period coming off of surgery, but it was clear that he'd lost his best pitch. Right now, Pittsburgh needs dependable relievers in their bullpen and they just could not take that gamble on Moreta.