Are we nearing the end of Roansy’s time in Pittsburgh?
There was a time when people got excited about seeing Roansy Contreras pitch. It feels like decades ago, but it really wasn’t all that long ago, and the excitement was very real.
After a cup of coffee at the tail end of the 2021 season, he was called up in 2022 and performed well, posting a 3.79 ERA across 95 innings of work.
The hope was that he would be able to step into the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rotation and live up to his mid-rotation projection for a pitching-starved 2023 Pirates roster.
To say that went poorly would be an understatement. He was cast out of a rotation that had to rely upon the last adequate gasps of Rich Hill to eat innings, then pitched poorly enough out of the pen to be cast out of the majors altogether, using up the last of his Minor League options. The velocity disappeared and his stuff became almost unrecognizable from what it was as he moved through the upper minors.
He was so lost the Pirates sent him all the way to the Florida Complex League last season to try and work out his issues in a non-competitive environment, and despite a desperate need for innings over the final two months of the season, Contreras never made it back to the majors.
He didn’t exactly blow anyone away this past spring, dealing with control issues almost every outing, but his stuff at least looked better than what it had shortly before his demotion. Being out of options and at least having given the Pirates some hope of a rebound, he made the opening day roster.
Fast forward to last night, and Contreras allowed a home run to Los Angeles Angels outfielder Kevin Pillar. It was one of five hits and one of two earned runs given up in two-thirds of an inning in a 9-0 loss.
His ERA now sits 4.70 in 11 games and 15.1 innings pitched while his WHIP sits at 1.76. His most used pitch has been the 4-seam fastball, which has been thrown 50 percent of the time, and it just hasn’t been effective, as opposing hitters are hitting .382 and slugging .529.
It’s certainly possible that Contreras could one day be an effective contributor on a Major League club. The Minor League performance was certainly there, at one time the stuff was also, but do the Pirates have a plan here?
Keeping him means they’re convinced that he can either start again or can become a backend bullpen piece in the future, but is it time for them to set aside what Contreras could be in the future and focus on what is the present?
Because currently, he’s on track for neither.
He’s not the first or even second guy you would turn to in a pinch to start, that would be Josh Fleming or Luis Ortiz and the Pirates have avoided using Contreras in any kind of real leverage. He’s the last guy out of the bullpen and anytime there’s a mess to mop up you’re much more likely to see his name in the box score.
It’s as if he’s a Rule 5 draft pick with an extra string attached that you don’t get an optionable depth piece at the end of it for your troubles, you just have to roster him in perpetuity. If you DFA him, he would certainly be claimed or traded.
Barring something unforeseen, it would be even harder for him to both survive this upcoming offseason and crack the rotation next spring. He already failed to do the latter this previous spring, it might have been his last best chance to do so.
Paul Skenes is on his way, whether that’s this weekend or if he starts as “scheduled” for Indianapolis in Louisville and we have to wait a little longer, it seems inevitable that he makes his way to the Majors before the month is up.
When he does get here, he’ll need both a space on the active roster, and a 40-man spot.
The Pirates presently could easily create a 40-man spot by transferring one of Ryan Borucki, Marco Gonzales or Jason Delay to the 60-day IL. Delay is still weeks away from resuming baseball activities after having knee surgery in late April and it sounds as if there’s a chance Marco Gonzales doesn’t pitch again this year.
As for the active spot, I think Quinn Priester has definitely shown you hints of something with that start of six strong frames in San Francisco, but last night was rough. He went four-and-two-thirds innings and allowed five hits and five runs, three earned. He doesn’t look like the same pitcher we saw last year, but some of the same issues have carried over.
But it’s not going to be the last time the Pirates need a spot on the 40 or the active this year, can Ro really walk that tightrope the entire season taking a valuable roster spot while performing perhaps the least valuable role on the team?
It seems incredibly likely now that his future isn’t in Pittsburgh, which would make the Jameson Taillon trade a total dud with RHP Miguel Yajure now pitching overseas, OF Canaan Smith-Njigba is not on the 40-man anymore and SS/2B Maikol Escotto is repeating a season with High-A Greensboro after two woeful campaigns for the Grasshoppers.
Does that make Contreras yet another example of the Pirates failings with player development or did being the one of the only promising arms in the upper minors at the time make it easier to ignore his flaws? It’s a debate I don’t think I really have a concrete position on yet.
Regardless, we’ve reached a point where nearly every time we see Contreras pitch, you wonder if it’s the last time you’ll see him in a Pirate uniform.
While I have you here, the Q&A this month is going to be pretty delayed. My personal life is going crazy at the moment. I really haven’t found the time to sort through all the submissions yet. I hope you’ll understand.