Pirates To Release Marcell Ozuna

The Pirates are cutting bait on one of their larger offseason acquisitions. Mike Rodriguez reports that Pittsburgh will release designated hitter Marcell Ozuna today. They’ll call up outfielder Ronny Simon in his place, Jason Mackey writes over at MLB.com.

Signed to a one-year, $12MM deal after the Pirates missed out on other targets (e.g. Kyle Schwarber), Ozuna never found his stride in Pittsburgh. It’s frankly a bit surprising that the leash for him was even this long. The 35-year-old Ozuna has taken 280 plate appearances this year and posted a disastrous .203/.286/.327 batting line — 31% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+. He’s sporting a career-worst 28.6% strikeout rate on the season and has only had month (June) where he posted even league-average offense — and that came with a dubious 36% strikeout rate.

As a whole this season, Pirates designated hitters (overwhelmingly led by Ozuna) have batted just .223/.293/.363. The resulting 79 wRC+ ranks fourth-worst in baseball, ahead of only the Tigers, D-backs and Royals. That, coupled with a recent rash of injuries, has put a strain on the lineup.

The Bucs are currently without three of their best hitters: Oneil Cruz (broken fingers), Konnor Griffin (torn tendon in his hand) and Ryan O’Hearn (quad strain). The latter of the group will be out for at least six weeks or so. They’ll likely cycle through several players in the DH spot now. O’Hearn and Bryan Reynolds have logged the most time at DH behind Ozuna, but Reynolds will be in the outfield more often than not. Jhostynxon Garcia could get some extra reps in the lineup now that Ozuna is off the roster, which could free manager Don Kelly to cycle him, Reynolds, Simon, Jacob Gonzalez and others in at the position.

Simon, 26, is having a huge season in Triple-A. He’s taken 428 plate appearances for the Pirates’ Indianapolis affiliate and batted .330/.419/.470 (137 wRC+). The switch-hitting Simon has swatted seven homers, gone 33-for-40 in stolen base attempts, drawn walks at a 12.4% clip and struck out at a 17.4% rate that’s well south of average. Simon has a track record of hitting quite well in Triple-A but has yet to get much of a look in the majors. He logged 88 plate appearances with Miami last season before coming to the Pirates in an offseason waiver claim.

The trade deadline is behind us — not that there was ever any real hope of moving Ozuna’s contract — meaning the Pirates’ only course of action now will be to release Ozuna. He’ll go unclaimed on release waivers and become a free agent, at which point any team can sign him to a big league deal for only the prorated minimum. The likelier outcome would be a minor league contract that allows Ozuna to try to find his swing in Triple-A. Based on this season’s results, a rebound feels like a long shot, but Ozuna hit a combined 79 home runs in 2023-24, so he’s not that far removed from being a potent middle-of-the-order presence.