Pirates to move Andrew Heaney to bullpen role

Andrew Heaney has made 23 starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season, but manager Don Kelly told reporters (including Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Saturday that Heaney will be utilized out of the bullpen for the remainder of the season. The news creates an immediate vacancy in the Bucs’ rotation, as Heaney was slated to start Sunday’s game against the Cubs.

Just to quell any immediate speculation, Hiles reports in a follow-up message that star prospect Bubba Chandler won’t be called up to take Heaney’s spot.  Chandler is scheduled to start for Triple-A Indianapolis today, and fellow prospect Hunter Barco just pitched on Wednesday, so he doesn’t have enough rest to be ready for another start Sunday.  Turning to Triple-A pitchers already on the 40-man roster, Johan Oviedo just pitched Friday, and Tom Harrington is on Indianapolis’ injured list.  It is possible the Pirates could just use a bullpen game Sunday, with Carmen Mlodzinski the likeliest candidate to soak up the majority of innings.

However, Pittsburgh decides to ultimately fill the rotation spot, it is noteworthy in its own right that Heaney is headed to the pen.  Heaney has posted a 4.99 ERA over 119 innings, with lackluster advanced metrics pretty much across the board except for a decent 7.4% walk rate.  The long ball has once again been a problem for Heaney, as only four pitchers in all of baseball have allowed more homers than the left-hander’s 24 big flies.  After being a very adept strikeout pitcher earlier in his career, Heaney’s strikeout rates were middling in 2023-24 and have now plummeted to just 16.1% this year.

The Bucs inked Heaney to a one-year, $5.25M free agent deal last winter, and the thinking behind the signing was that the southpaw would be a veteran bridge for the rotation until some of the younger minor league arms were ready for prime time in the latter half of the season.  This tactic assumed that Heaney would’ve been dealt at the trade deadline, though the Yankees were the only team publicly linked to Heaney’s market, and ultimately the southpaw stayed put since Pittsburgh apparently couldn’t find an acceptable offer.

The move to the pen will have an impact on Heaney’s wallet, as his contract contains up to $750K in incentive bonuses related to his innings totals.  He’ll receive an extra $50K for pitching at least 120 innings, a $100K bonus for hitting 130 innings, plus an extra $150K for the 140, 150, 160, and 170-inning thresholds.  The 120-inning bonus is a lock and 130 innings seems plausible, though the higher bonuses will be harder to achieve with a more limited relief workload.

Between Heaney’s lack of production and the fact that the Bucs never saw him as a long-term option, there are plenty of legitimate baseball reasons behind the southpaw’s removal from the rotation.  However, given the Pirates’ notoriously tight budget, the financial element to Heaney’s role change can’t be ignored.  It was just last season that Rowdy Tellez was released in late September when he was just four plate appearances shy of unlocking a $200K bonus from his Pirates contract.

Heaney has mostly worked as a starter during his 12 MLB seasons, but he has made his share of bullpen appearances and worked as a swingman.  Posting some good numbers as a reliever might help him finish 2025 on a high note, and perhaps give him another way of promoting himself in free agency.  It seems likely that Heaney would prefer a starting job if he can find one, but working as an innings-eating reliever or as a swingman could help open up his market to teams wary about his recent results as a starter.