The Pirates cleared a spot for Jared Jones on Thursday by designating Justin Lawrence for assignment, opening both an active-roster and 40-man roster opening so Jones could return from the 60-day injured list and start the May 29 game.
Jones had been reported the day before as set to be activated for that start, and the move made it official. For the Pirates, the timing mattered because they did not have room to add a pitcher back to the staff without pushing someone off the roster first.
That someone was Lawrence, 31, who had thrown 22 innings this season and carried a 5.32 ERA, with a 23.6% strikeout rate, a 43.1% walk rate and four home runs allowed. His four-seamer and sinker had still been living in the upper 90s, but the results had not followed, and his 2026 SIERA sat at 3.79.
The Pirates had claimed Lawrence off waivers ahead of the 2025 season, and for a brief stretch he looked like a useful find. He missed a few months last year with elbow inflammation, then returned to make 17 appearances with a 0.51 ERA, a sharp contrast to the form that followed this spring and left the club with little choice but to use a DFA because he was out of options.
Lawrence’s path before Pittsburgh was uneven, too. He spent 2021 to 2024 with the Rockies and posted a 5.43 ERA over that span, but his work in 2025 suggested there was still value in his arm. The problem now is not whether the stuff is there. It is that the Pirates needed a roster opening immediately, and Lawrence was the most exposed piece.
What happens next is straightforward but not especially kind. Lawrence will go through waivers, a process that usually takes 48 hours and can stretch to about a week if the Pirates have to sort through the aftermath. He could be claimed, traded or clear and accept an outright assignment, but for now his place on the roster belongs to Jones, whose return was the point of the move all along. More on the Pirates’ rotation picture can be found in this report.
