The Pirates have been bitten by the injury bug.
Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz are rehabbing in Florida. Konnor Griffin will be out until September with a torn sagittal band in his left ring finger. But as general manager Ben Cherington sees it, none of that changes the Pirates’ goals for the season, nor will it alter their approach with the Trade Deadline less than a month away.
“[The injuries] haven’t changed how we think about the deadline or this team in 2026,” Cherington said. “In terms of the bigger picture, we believe we have an opportunity in front of us and want to improve the team. We’re focused on that.”
To be clear, none of that is expected until after the MLB Draft this coming weekend. Cherington said as much when asked whether the Pirates would seek an upgrade at shortstop with Griffin out and Jared Triolo filling in.
Speaking of Griffin, Cherington said the decision was made to have his hand splinted versus trying to play through the injury because the Pirates believe they’d essentially be signing up for a full finger reconstruction that would require four months or more.
By doing that, the Pirates worried how seriously it would impact Griffin’s offseason and preparation for next season.
“That didn’t seem like a good outcome for any of us,” Cherington said. “It’s not what Konnor wants. It’s not what we want. It’s difficult. We want him out there. But it was clear to me, once we got that information, this was the right way to go.”
Cherington was also asked about a variety of players on the current roster, including Mitch Keller, Paul Skenes, Carmen Mlodzinski and Marcell Ozuna.
• On Keller, who has a 5.02 ERA this season, Cherington said the biggest issue has been left-handed hitters. They have an .831 OPS against Keller versus a .575 for righties.
“That's not brand new, but it's probably been more of a glare here recently,” Cherington said. “And teams are stacking. You can see that.”
As far as a short-term fix, Cherington said the Pirates would look deeper into Keller’s pitch mix and sequencing, as well as command and execution. In the offseason, it might require a deeper adjustment.
The Pirates have considered using an opener for Keller, Cherington said, although they haven’t reached a consensus on whether to actually do it.
• On Skenes, Cherington repeated much of what he’s said on the Pirates Insider Show. Even great pitchers experience occasional velocity dips. The Pirates are focused on arming Skenes with the right information — and yes, they have noticed some slight delivery changes.
But nothing that’s overly concerning.
Cherington didn’t want to say fatigue was a factor, but he also didn’t rule it out.
“I don't really know if we have a great way to measure fatigue, so that's speculation,” Cherington said. “We can see more accurately changes in the delivery. There are some minor changes that we are seeing, that he knows about. It's not news. It's just what do you do about that in the middle of the season? That can be part of it. Fatigue is possible. We just don't know how to measure that, so I'm not sure how to answer it.”
• Cherington also spent part of his session explaining Carmen Mlodzinski’s role and how they’re executing it. Mlodzinski and pitching coach Bill Murphy will talk after each outing and determine the next “live” period. That’s essentially a series of days where Mlodzinski can be used.
Then, it becomes manager Don Kelly’s call. After Mlodzinski pitches, there’s another huddle about the next time he’s “live.”
The Pirates used Mlodzinski Tuesday while the game was relatively close and stuck with him for a second inning because they want to preserve length, should Mlodzinski need to go back into the starting rotation.
Mlodzinski’s recovery is generally one day per inning pitched, though nothing is set in stone.
“There’s fluidity,” Cherington said. “There’s a range of dates. It's not a locked in one day."
• As for Marcell Ozuna, who was back in the lineup Wednesday, Cherington said he was dealing with a toe injury in Washington. This represented just the second game Ozuna has played in July.
Cherington knows Ozuna wants to play more, but the way the Pirates roster is constructed — needing to rotate others through the DH spot and Ozuna not producing much when he does play — he’s been on the bench a lot.
While highlighting what Ozuna brought to the clubhouse, Cherington emphasized yet again that they continue to believe there’s something there with the right-handed hitter who’s batting just .202 with a .610 OPS.
“We're going to take it a day at a time and see how it goes,” Cherington said. “We still believe there's a potent bat in there. There's still a lot of season left and believe he can have a stretch where he's helping us win a ton of games.”
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.