The home stretch in baseball is here, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are hoping to make a run for the playoffs after they went on a bit of a shopping spree. 

After a 4-3 win to reach .500 last night, the Pirates and manager Don Kelly are hoping the new additions can help propel the Pittsburgh native and his hometown club back to the postseason for the first time in over a decade. 

To do so, Kelly will have to get better results from the one area that has failed him all year, and dragged his name through the mud in the process. 

The legitimacy of Kelly criticism has lived and died by the bullpen, which has plagued the Pirates all season long. 

At times, he certainly has pushed the wrong buttons. In his first full year managing the Pirates, he’s pulled healthy starters early, gave relievers too quick a hook, and called the wrong guys out of the bullpen. 

It’s that last criticism that has hovered over the 46-year-old for most of the season. But it’s also the one that has the fan base the most split. Yes, Kelly’s decisions often haven’t landed well, [add]

But he also has had an incredibly troubled unit to work with, one that hasn’t done their manager much, if any, favors during the season. 

Kelly lost his closer in Dennis Santana, who was shell of himself all season and eventually designated for assignment after limping to a 6.05 ERA in 41.2 innings. 

His replacement closer, free-agent signing Gregory Soto, brought better numbers, but still a ton of inconsistency. Though Soto has a respectable 3.69 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 46.1 innings, he’s blown five saves and hasn’t looked quite the part of the shutdown arm the Bucs need. 

The remaining cast has been a revolving door of dart throws, few of which have pitched with any kind of sustained success. Opening Day Pirates like Jose Urqiudy and Hunter Barco bombed, returning hurlers like Isaac Mattson and Justin Lawrence couldn’t replicate 2025, and in-season promotions like Can Sanders and Brandan Bidois failed to stop the bleeding. 

It seemed like no matter what Kelly did, it was destined to fail. 

Not anymore. 

On Monday, general manager Ben Cherington spent the day working the phones and filling out paperwork just before time ran out on the August 3rd trade deadline. 

After he brought in right-hander Camilo Doval from the New York Yankees on Saturday, Cherington acquired a trio of new arms to massively overhaul the team’s most glaring weakness. 

In comes Kirby Yates from the Los Angeles Angels, Lake Bachar from the Miami Marlins, and the big-ticket name of Luke Weaver from the New York Mets. 

Along with Doval, that’s four new arms to the eight-man relief unit, one that saw another recent acquisition in Ron Marinaccio designated for assignment as part of the transactions to make room. 

They will join the remaining established bullpen arms for the Pirates, which includes names like lefties Gregory Soto and Mason Montgomery, righty Yohan Ramirez, and (when he comes back from injury) left-hander Evan Sisk. 

Cherington was able to make these moves while mortgaging little of the organization’s farm system. Only infielder Sammy Stafura, acquired from Cincinnati in last year’s Ke’Bryan Hayes trade, was a top prospect sent away for help. 

No one else inside the team’s top 30 was dealt on deadline day. That might give fans some pause on exactly how well this new-look bullpen can perform, but the Pirates did acquire guys whose numbers suggest they can keep this team afloat.

Starting with Doval, a 29-year-old with one of the craziest home and away splits you will ever see. At Yankee Stadium, he was borderline unplayable with an ERA north of seven. Anywhere else in the majors, however, the guy is a stud. He had an ERA just over two on the road, and perhaps getting him a new home ballpark can unlock the shining days he had in San Francisco. 

Yates can provide some mid-level relief. At 39, the former Angel pitched to a 3.95 ERA in 27.1 innings in Los Angeles. A two-time All Star, Yates has seen and done a lot in this game. More importantly, though, he can provide some innings in the middle of the game to bridge the Pirates to their backend guys. 

One of those could be Bachar, who had stellar numbers before a harsh July really roughed him up. A late bloomer in the majors, the 31-year-old had a 3.00 ERA until July, when a five-spot on the 5th and a four-spot on the 26th pushed it higher. 

And the new presumptive closer in town is Weaver. Soon to be 33, the righty is having a career year with a 1.84 ERA, 0.818 WHIP, and 4.09 strikeout-to-walk ratio for the Mets this year. Though Weaver has never closed full-time, his numbers make him the best choice to send out there in the ninth for save situations moving forward.  

Weaver, in particular, now represents a quartet of reinforcements here to help Pittsburgh make history. And they provide the manager Kelly with his first true chance, and challenge, as the guy in charge. 

He couldn’t win with that old bullpen. It’s hard to imagine who would. On paper, he absolutely can win with this bullpen. Let’s see if he will.