Earlier, this season, it seemed like the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to have to sell low on hometown reliever David Bednar. But The Renegade turned around his season and perhaps his career, and now the Bucs have an opportunity to sell high, with multiple teams said to be interested.
According to reports, the Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, and Philadelphia Phillies are the names being most repeated right now, with the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs all also
expressing interest.
The Bucs are reportedly after a team’s top-five prospect in return, which should make Bucs fans happy, as that’s a pretty good return for a reliever that was demoted to the Minor Leagues earlier this season and was coming off of the worst year of his career in 2024 when he finished with a 5.77 ERA and 7 blown saves.
This year, Bednar is mostly back to his old self, sporting a 2.37 ERA and 17 saves on the season, and he has just a 1.70 ERA since returning to the team from the Minors. He has 51 strikeouts in just 38 innings pitched and hasn’t blown a save yet this season.
But where is Bednar likely to go? Both the Tigers and Rangers have needs in the bullpen, so this would seem like a decent fit from a personnel perspective for either team, but what the Bucs get back would obviously be the key here, with the Tigers and Dodgers having strong hitters in the system that could entice Pittsburgh. The Rangers and Blue Jays in particular are stacked with pitching in their systems, and I think we all know the Bucs are a much higher need for hitting and position players rather than pitchers.
So at least what’s being reported right now, Ben Cherington is holding a high price for the team’s top reliever. Whether than remains is yet to be determined. We won’t have long to wait now until we find out if the hometown Pittsburgh kid remains with his hometown team or gets moved to greener and winning pastures.
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