The Pirates made some strange news last night after Mike Rodriguez reported that the team was set to call up veteran pitcher Domingo Germán to the major league squad ahead of Pittsburgh’s series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.
This report was later confirmed by both Alex Stumpf and Noah Hiles, two reporter names Pirates fans are probably more familiar with.
It has yet to be confirmed, as of the time of this publishing, whether the Pirates plan to start Germán Friday in LA, bumping both Mitch Keller and Paul Skenes back a day in this three-game tilt with the Dodgers.
However, whether Germán starts on Friday, another day, or is used as a long-reliever type in the bullpen, this decision by the Pirates makes little sense at best.
Germán, for starters, has a very discouraging stat line in Triple-A with the Indianapolis Indians, where he has been pitching all season after coming to the Pirates organization on a minor league contract.
He has a 6-4 record with a 5.29 ERA, 1.426 WHIP, and 2.13 K/BB ratio in 13 games and 68.0 innings with Indianapolis. He has also allowed 12 home runs.
His last game with Indy saw him pitch 7.0 innings, surrendering 7 hits, 5 earned runs, and 3 home runs. He struck out 7.
As Mike Roddriguez’s original post stated, Germán has not pitched in the major leagues in over a calendar year. That is in part due to his incident with the New York Yankees last season, where Germán reportedly had a confrontation with Yankees manager Aaron Boone before overturning furniture and smashing a tv in a seemingly drunken rage.
Soon after, it was reported that Germán had agreed to inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse, which landed him on the restricted list for New York for the remainder of the season.
This incident is relevant largely because the Pirates, when signing him, used it as an opportunity to try and show that they, as an organization, were willing to help rehab Germán, and more importantly, he was willing to continue to put in the work.
To the contrary of what the Pirates had stated publicly in their defense of the deal, Germán gave an interview to NJ.com’s Randy Miller, claimed that he never believed he had a drinking problem. It was quite the spectacle for the organization at the time.
Germán’s past also includes a domestic violence incident in 2019, for which he was eventually suspended 81 games. That also came while he was with the Yankees, which ended up ruling him ineligible for the entire 2020 season.
His 2023 season with the Yankees on the field saw him post a 5-7 record, 4.56 ERA, 1.077 WHIP, and 3.35 K/BB ratio. Germán pitched in 20 games and tossed 108.2 innings.
He also pitched a perfect game that year on June 28th, the most memorable on-the-field moment of his professional career.
In a career that has spanned over 500 major league innings, Germán has a 4.41 ERA and 1.177 WHIP.
Germán has spent the entire year in Triple-A with Indianapolis. He opted out of his contract earlier in the summer, but with no other offers presenting themselves, he returned to the club days later and re-signed on another minor league deal.
Since coming back to the Indians, Germán has pitched 17.2 innings and given up 10 earned runs, including 4 homers.
All in all though, this move doesn’t really make sense for the Pirates. The 32-year old Germán has no future with this team, given the loads of pitching prospects they still have and the numerous established starters who would rank higher than him on the depth chart.
His previously mentioned Triple-A stats also do not instill confidence.
This move requires Pittsburgh to make an additional corresponding move, given that Germán was not on the 40-man roster at the time of his selection. At the time of this publishing, it is not yet known who will be designated for assignment to make room for him.
Making room for him will also be much more complicated if the Pirates plan to use him as a starter. With Jared Jones already performing rehab starts with Indianapolis, his return is close. Him, plus Keller, Skenes, Bailey Falter, and Luis Ortiz will make up the rotation.
Jake Woodford, who has been moonlighting as a starter and long-reliever for the Pirates since his selection from Triple-A, has pitched in as the sixth starter here and there for Pittsburgh.
If Germán is to be deployed as a starter, you have a bit of a logjam in the rotation That is, of course, unless Woodford is the DFA’d player.
Woodford has given up 7 runs (4 earned) in 8.2 innings of work for the Pirates so far. He’s suffered some really awful defense behind him, but he also has been far from lights out. That still only buys you limited time though, because Jones is still returning.
Making these kind of moves that will have to be corrected in a few weeks only makes real sense if Germán had a stat line that looked worthy of a recall.
He doesn’t. Not even in the slightest.
To have someone with as much major league experience as he does struggle so much in a minor league is seriously concerning, and it throws a lot more doubt on Ben Cherington’s idea to sign him in the first place.
If it is true that the Pirates are planning on having him start tomorrow, that is a very…interesting call to make for the opening game of a series that very likely decides whether this year’s Pirates team is officially done.
(Featured photo from the Indianapolis Indians)
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