Pirates designate veteran lefty for assignment

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Tuesday that veteran left-hander Andrew Heaney has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to center fielder Oneil Cruz, who has been reinstated from the injured list. Pittsburgh also optioned infielder Ronny Simon to Triple-A Indianapolis and recalled right-handed reliever Dauri Moreta from Triple-A.

Heaney, who turned 34 in June, signed a one-year deal in the offseason, guaranteeing him $5.25M. Early in the 2025 campaign, it looked like one of the best low-cost pickups of the winter by any team. The veteran southpaw raced out to a strong start, tossing 78 1/3 innings of 3.33 ERA ball in his first 14 trips to the bump. Heaney posted a sharp 7.5% walk rate in that time, and while a pedestrian 18.5% strikeout rate and somewhat elevated 1.26 HR/9 mark pointed to some degree of regression — he had a 4.47 FIP and 4.51 SIERA in that time — the reckoning was more emphatic than anyone could’ve reasonably anticipated.

A pair of consecutive seven-run drubbings in mid-June proved to be the beginning of a two-month spiral from which Heaney simply hasn’t been able to recover. Over his past 42 innings, he’s been trounced for 43 earned runs (9.21 ERA) with just a 12.1% strikeout rate. Opponents have averaged a staggering 2.79 home runs per nine innings pitched during that span.

The Pirates recently demoted Heaney to the bullpen, but the change in roles didn’t prove beneficial. He’s surrendered six runs in 1 1/3 innings across his two most recent relief outings, including five runs in just two-thirds of an inning last night.

Some onlookers might cynically liken Heaney’s DFA to the Pirates’ much-maligned 2024 decision to designate Rowdy Tellez for assignment when he was just four plate appearances shy of a $200K bonus. Given the prolonged nature of Heaney’s struggles, this looks to be a much different scenario. In fact, last night’s two-thirds of an inning proved to be just enough to push Heaney over 120 innings on the season (120 1/3 overall), which unlocked a $50K bonus.

Had the Pirates kept trotting him out there, Heaney could’ve unlocked further incentives. (He’d have taken home another $100K at 130 innings and $150K at 140 innings pitched.) However, based on his past two months, there’s no incentive for the team to keep giving him opportunities. Heaney had ample opportunity to pull himself out of the slump and wasn’t able to do so. In the end, he’ll wind up earning $5.3MM this contract, and the innings that would’ve gone to him will instead go to younger arms whom the Bucs can control beyond the current season.

Pittsburgh surely tried to find a trade partner prior to the deadline, but even then, Heaney was riding a streak of 28 runs surrendered in his past 28 2/3 innings. He’d been tagged for 15 home runs in his past 50 innings. It’s easy to imagine most teams seeking pitching felt they could get comparable or better results simply sticking in house.

With Heaney now off the 40-man roster, he’ll be placed on waivers. It’s largely irrelevant whether that’ll be outright waivers or release waivers, as it’s unlikely anyone will claim the remaining $932K on his contract after struggles of this magnitude, and he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency while retaining the remainder of his guaranteed salary. Barring what would be a very surprising claim, he’ll be a free agent within the next few days. He could latch on with a new club as pitching depth for the final month of the season and could technically be postseason-eligible if he signs with a new team prior to Sept. 1 — though he’d obviously have to turn things around in a hurry to be considered for a spot on anyone’s October rosters.