Pirates Had No Choice With Cam Sanders Move

The Pirates have struggled finding pitchers outside of those four that have provided bulk inning roles and taken on innings, successfully, earlier than the later ones.

Pittsburgh had starting pitchers in left-hander Hunter Barco and right-hander José Urquidy, who are both now at Indianapolis stretching out as starters. Both pitchers had their issues out of the bullpen, with a 6.43 ERA for Barco and an 8.53 ERA for Urquidy and will be in a role that suits them better.

Right-handed pitcher Justin Lawrence, who posted a 0.51 ERA when healthy in 2025, has a 7.20 ERA over 10 appearances.

Fellow right-hander in Yohan Ramírez has had some solid outings, with a 2.30 ERA over 10 appearances, but is just one option of someone who can go more than one inning.

Sanders has struggled in his most recent MLB stints with the Pirates and had an 8.10 ERA in 2025, so they need someone who can take on a heavier workload and not give up a ton of runs.

Dotel Could Answer Pirates Problem in Bullpen

The Pirates likely didn't want to have Dotel up at this point of the season, but there's no doubt he has the potential to become that low-leverage, bulk-inning relief pitcher going forward.

Dotel spent all of 2025 at Double-A and has thrown just 14.1 innings at Triple-A before getting his call-up, but is on the 40-man roster, which the Pirates put him on in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

He has great fastball velocity, keeping it around 96-97 mph, but he can also reach 100 mph with it, which should play well in the bullpen.

Dotel also throws a splitter and has a slider, which he's generated a 50% whiff rate so far in Triple-A.

He led all Pirates minor league pitchers with 131 strikeouts in 2025 and they will need him to do that going forward, even with little experience above Double-A.