A week after the Clay Holmes trade again became a talking point when the Pirates designated Diego Castillo for assignment and eventually traded him to the Diamondbacks, this time the focus shifted to former closer Richard Rodriguez, Bryse Wilson and another failed bullpen swap.
The news came Wednesday evening amid the Pirates announcing the signing of left-handed reliever Jarlin Garcia to a one-year contract for 2023, the pact carrying a club option for 2024. To make room on the 40-man roster, Pittsburgh designated Bryse Wilson for assignment.
Wilson, of course, was acquired along with minor league pitcher Ricky DeVito from the Braves on July 30, 2021. DeVito, 24, had a 5.40 ERA and walked 5.66 per nine innings with High-A Greensboro this past season. He’s shown strikeout stuff but hasn’t commanded much attention prospect-wise.
Which leaves Wilson as the primary driver of the deal — and that was a bumpy road in 2022. The right-hander had an 8.29 ERA through nine games, struggled mightily with his control and was sent to Triple-A Indianapolis for additional work.
When Wilson returned, he was a little better, producing a 4.39 ERA over his final 16 games (14 starts). The walks went down, though Wilson gave up a bunch of homers (14 in 82 innings). Over two seasons with the Pirates, Wilson has a 5.37 ERA in 33 games (28 starts), which is actually better than how he fared with the Braves (5.90 ERA in four years).
With the acquisitions this offseason of Vince Velasquez and Rich Hill, plus Wilson’s struggles adjusting to a bullpen role throughout his career, DFA’ing the 25-year-old certainly made some sense.
It will also be interesting to see if someone takes a chance on Wilson given what he did during the second half and a handful of really good performances in Atlanta, including six innings of one-run ball in Game 4 of the 2020 NLCS.
While Rodriguez was later suspended for PED usage, what he did in Pittsburgh was flat-out tremendous. Through 37 games with the Pirates in 2021, Rodriguez had a 2.82 ERA with 14 saves, walking just five and striking out 33 in 38⅓ innings.
Dotting the zone with a four-seam fastball, Rodriguez was holding hitters to a .194 average at the time of that trade and had a 0.83 WHIP. In 2020, Rodriguez had a 2.70 ERA in 23⅓ innings, with five walks against 34 strikeouts.
Dealing Rodriguez, who’s currently a free agent after signing a minor league deal with the Yankees last season, was a relatively understandable move at the time, but the Pirates — same as Holmes — absolutely did not get enough back for him.
As for Garcia, there’s actually a decent amount to like.
The 29-year-old has the fifth-lowest ERA (2.84) among qualified left-handed relievers in MLB since the start of 2020. In his big league career, which includes three seasons apiece with the Marlins and Giants, Garcia is 17-15 with a 3.61 ERA, .223 batting average against and 1.15 WHIP in 285 games.
This past season was a solid one for the Dominican-born southpaw, where he allowed just two earned runs in his first 17 appearances, with a .107 batting average against. For the season, Garcia had a 3.74 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 58 games.
“Signing Jarlín is part of our overall goal of adding left-handed pitching this offseason,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said in a statement. “Jarlín has been a steady performer in the big leagues, and we believe he’ll complement our bullpen group nicely.”
Along with David Bednar, Wil Crowe and likely Colin Holderman, Garcia will be an important part of the bullpen’s back end. The other left-handed reliever, Rule 5 pick Jose Hernandez, has not yet made his MLB debut, so Garcia will be counted upon for both left-on-left matchups and bridging gaps in the later innings.
Next order of business for the Pirates will be finalizing Rich Hill’s one-year, $8 million deal. That’s expected to happen after the holidays. When it does, the Pirates will need to create another spot on the 40-man roster. Candidates there could include Ryan Vilade, Duane Underwood Jr. and Travis Swaggerty.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: December 29, 2022, 1:04 a.m.
Updated: December 29, 2022, 11:16 a.m.