The Pirates added Lake Bachar to a bullpen they have been reshaping for days, getting the right-hander from the Marlins before Monday’s trade deadline and sending three prospects to Miami in return. The deal gives Pittsburgh another arm for a race that still has it within reach of a Wild Card berth.
Bachar, 31, arrives with a 3.84 ERA in 58 2/3 innings across 38 appearances this year, along with a 25.2% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate. He has also worked enough to matter; his 38.6% ground-ball rate and two minor league options remaining make him a workable piece for a club that has already added Luke Weaver, Kirby Yates and Camilo Doval over the past couple of days.
The Pirates needed the help. Their bullpen ranked 16th in K-BB percentage, 17th in fWAR and 22nd in ERA when the trade was made, and Evan Sisk had been out for a month with elbow inflammation while on a rehab assignment. Cherington’s deadline push is built on volume as much as name value, and Bachar fits that pattern as another reliever who can be moved through a busy staff rather than held in one narrow role.
There is also the part that makes the deal harder to read from Miami’s side. The Marlins were 58-55 and only 1 1/2 games out of a playoff spot, yet they still chose three prospects over keeping a pitcher who had become a steady bullpen presence after being claimed from San Diego. Bachar left Miami with a 3.88 ERA over 139 innings in 101 appearances, so this was not a spare part being moved for depth.
That is why the return matters as much as the name on the front of the transaction. Brandan Bidois had debuted with the Pirates this year but carried a 6.32 ERA in 15 innings, Hyun Seung Lee had hit.157/.283/.235 in 15 Single-A games, and Brian Sanchez completed the package going back to the Marlins. Pittsburgh got the more established major league reliever, while Miami bet that three prospects were the better use of a deadline chip even with its own standings position still alive.
What happens next is straightforward for Pittsburgh and less so for Miami: Bachar joins a bullpen that is being redrawn in real time, and the Marlins now have to show that the decision to move him was a trade for future value rather than a concession in the middle of a chase.
