Previewing the Pirates: Creativity with pitching staff could lead bullpen to take on bigger role

The transformation of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff has involved such turnover the past two seasons that only four pitchers — two starters and two relievers — remain on the active roster.

The Pirates are counting on JT Brubaker and Mitch Keller to serve as anchors for their rotation and Sam Howard and Chris Stratton to be key components of the back end of their bullpen.

They also might be among the few pitchers with defined roles.

Despite a starting rotation that is thin on experience and lacks an ace, Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin is enthusiastic about the chance expanded rosters for the first month of the season gives him to be creative with how he handles the pitching staff. The Pirates had starters piggyback off each other in starts in the shortened spring training. Now, they might go even more off script. Marin hinted that they could use closers as openers, treating the early innings as high-leverage situations as starters continue to stretch out.

“It feels incredibly different, in a good way,” Marin said. “I’m walking in with a smile on my face every single day because of the guys we have. We are versatile. We have more options to do different things.”

The Pirates know this much: After a season that tested his toughness, Brubaker (5-13, 5.36 ERA over 24 starts in 2021) will start the opener Thursday at St. Louis. Based on the final week of spring training, Keller, Bryse Wilson, Zach Thompson and lefty Jose Quintana appear to comprise the starting rotation, though it could be stretched to seven with Wil Crowe and lefty Dillon Peters.

“Whoever doesn’t make the rotation will be an interesting addition to our bullpen that will hopefully help us out, give us some length and different opportunities in that middle area, as well,” Pirates bullpen coach Justin Meccage said. “There might be a mix of younger guys and more experienced guys. It may be situational, too.”

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The strength of the staff might be the bullpen, even though the Pirates haven’t committed to a closer. They prefer to play to the strengths of the high-spin Stratton (eight saves) and high-velocity David Bednar (three) by making matchup-based decisions. The Pirates also signed veteran Heath Hembree to a one-year, $2.125 million deal to bolster the back end of the bullpen, and he pitched four scoreless innings this spring.

The Pirates also are high on lefty Anthony Banda, who was claimed off waivers from the New York Mets last August. Another lefty, Aaron Fletcher, could complement Banda with Howard (mid-back strain) starting the season on the injured list.

Marin hinted that former starters such as Stratton and Duane Underwood could be used as openers, an attempt to keep the Pirates in games early and take advantage of a 14-man pitching staff.

“It’s getting creative as possible and putting our guys in the best positions possible to do this. Everything’s on the table right now, and I kind of love it,” Marin said. “I kind of love that we’re talking about that right now. We have some time to iron out some things out, but that fires me up. It gives us opportunities to be creative. We are trying to get our guys in the best spots possible for us to succeed and for them to be in a position to be able to make leverage situations happen for us.”

The key could be Keller, who is coming off a disappointing season in which he was 5-11 with a 6.17 ERA in 23 starts and was demoted midseason to Triple-A. The 26-year-old righty spent the offseason working on his delivery and experienced an uptick in velocity to where he is sitting in the mid-90s and touching triple digits. He showed more confidence and conviction this spring, even toying with a new pitch, a sweeping slider that complements his fastball, curveball and slider.

“It’s a two-seam orientation slider that’s going to give you more horizontal movement than vertical,” Marin said. “That sweeper kind of opens the plate up, especially against a right-handed hitter if he wants to get off-barrel or to a left-handed hitter to really truly backfoot somebody.”

The Pirates added Wilson (1-4, 4.91 in eight starts) and Thompson (3-7, 3.24) in trades — Wilson from Atlanta for closer Richard Rodriguez last July, Thompson from Miami for catcher Jacob Stallings last December — and signed Quintana to a one-year, $2 million free-agent contract so that he could return to the starting rotation after working mostly out of the bullpen the past two seasons.

Quintana had a rocky spring, allowing a .395 batting average and 11 runs in three starts, but he’s healthy, and the Pirates are counting on him to resemble the pitcher with an 83-80 record and 3.83 ERA in 257 starts over a 10-year career. If not, he becomes another lefty option to a bullpen that features Banda, Fletcher and Howard. Right-hander Miguel Yajure made the final cut, but Max Kranick (right forearm strain) is headed to the 10-day injured list.

“The way the game is going with platoons and the way they’re managing games, you need two,” Meccage said. “If you can have three, great because it really hamstrings them. You don’t have to abuse them. You don’t have to use those guys too much. You can give them rests here and there. That second guy for us is really important. If we can get a third guy, it’ll be even better. That’s a game changer for our bullpen.”

A game changer for the starting rotation could be the development of right-hander Roansy Contreras, who can touch triple digits. It could lead to more roster turnover, but that’s something for which the Pirates already are familiar.