The Pirates announced that they have acquired right-hander Ron Marinaccio from the Padres. The Friars, who designated him for assignment recently, receive international bonus pool considerations in return. The pool space is worth $500K, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. In a corresponding move, Pittsburgh has designated righty Dennis Santana for assignment.
Santana, 30, is having a very disappointing year. That’s especially true when considering how good he was last season. He logged 70 1/3 innings out of the Pittsburgh bullpen in 2025, allowing 2.18 earned runs per nine. He got some help from a .211 batting average on balls in play and 80.7% strand rate, but his 22.2% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate were decent figures. Even his adjusted metrics, like his 3.21 FIP and 3.68 SIERA, pointed to him having a pretty good year.
The Bucs tendered him a contract for 2026, agreeing to a $3.5MM salary. That investment has not paid off. Santana has posted a 6.05 ERA through 41 2/3 innings. His 19.9% strikeout rate is a drop from last year while his walk rate his spiked to 11.3%.
The Pirates have decided to make a change and bumped him off the roster a few months before he was set to become a free agent. DFA limbo can last as long as week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Bucs could take as long as five days to see if there’s any trade interest. This year’s numbers will certainly tamp down his trade value. If he were to clear waivers, he has enough service time to both reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and keep the money he is still owed.
Marinaccio, 31, is in a somewhat similar place. He has also had some big league success but isn’t having his best season. From 2022 to 2025, he tossed 125 1/3 innings with a 3.02 ERA. His 12.3% walk rate was too high but he struck out 28.3% of batters faced. This year, he has thrown 47 innings with a 4.79 ERA. His walk rate is down to 8.9% but he has only punched out 18.7% of opponents.
He is out of options, so he got squeezed off the San Diego roster, but they will recoup some bonus pool space as he departs. For the Pirates, perhaps they see a path to getting Marinaccio back on track. He can be controlled for three seasons after this one, so he has more potential long-term impact than Santana. However, since he is out of options and has struggled, he should have a tenuous hold on a roster spot.
The Bucs are clearly trying to break their postseason drought this year. They have been very aggressive lately. In the offseason, they made bold pickups of Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn and others. Shortly after the season started, they signed Konnor Griffin to a big nine-year extension. They are currently half a game out of a Wild Card spot but the bullpen is a big issue. The team’s relievers have a collective 4.42 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of the league. They should be looking to bolster the relief group between now and the August 3 deadline.
If they make a number of additions, then perhaps Marinaccio will get squeezed out of his roster spot once again. For now, he’ll join the Pirates and try to put up better numbers than he did with the Padres.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
