The Twins Should Capitalize on Carmen Mlodzinski’s Awkward Standoff with Pittsburgh Pirates

[Cody Schoenmann]

Image courtesy of © Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Last Friday, Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jared Jones returned to the PNC Park mound, making his first major league start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2025. The home crowd celebrated Jones’s return, as the 24-year-old pitched 4 1/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins, surrendering five earned runs over 21 batters faced. However, the hard-throwing righty’s return to Pittsburgh’s five-pitcher rotation was partially overshadowed by how Carmen Mlodzinski (who held Pittsburgh’s fifth rotation spot for most of 2026) responded to Pirates decision-makers informing him that he would be transitioned back into the bullpen upon Jones’s return.

“(I’m) still communicating with the organization and the people in my corner, whether that’s my family or my agency, about what is next,” Mlodzinski said, when asked about transitioning back to the bullpen during a media scrum last Thursday.

 

Unsurprisingly, Mlodzinski’s quote took off among national baseball media, with many criticizing the 27-year-old’s dejected response to returning to the bullpen. Many of those critiquing Mlodzinski are doing so solely to profit from the salaciousness of a conflict between player and team, but for those viewing the situation more clearly, it's easy to see why Mlodzinski would be upset about the change in roles.

 

Through 55 innings pitched, Mlodzinski has generated a 3.76 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and a 19.3% strikeout rate, while making nine proper starts. According to Wins Above Replacement at FanGraphs (fWAR), the righty has been Pittsburgh's fourth-most valuable starting pitcher, coming in behind Braxton Ashcraft, Paul Skenes, and Mitch Keller. Mlodzinski is firmly above the Pirates’ fifth-most valuable starting pitcher, Bubba Chandler, earning 1.0 fWAR over 44 innings pitched as a starter compared to Chandler’s 0.2 fWAR over 52 innings. Still, Pittsburgh opted to keep Chandler in the rotation over Mlodzinski, seemingly due to Chandler’s far superior raw stuff and higher ceiling as a starter.

 

Pittsburgh placed Mlodzinski on the restricted list on Sunday, citing the pitcher expressing that he wasn’t ready to pitch in the series finale against Minnesota. Big-leaguers are unpaid while on the restricted list. However, the 24-year-old’s stint on the list was short-lived, as he was reinstated Monday night. In effect, they suspended him for two days and docked his pay for the missed time.

 

According to Jason Mackey of MLB.com, Mlodzinski didn’t request a trade, and is expected to pitch out of the bullpen in a bulk role during the club’s Tuesday night contest against the Houston Astros. Still, animosity between Mlodzinski and Pittsburgh lingers, making a trade of the 27-year-old likely before the trade dealine on August 3. If that is the case, Twins top baseball executive Jeremy Zoll should aggressively pursue an early-June trade for Mlodzinski, handing the talented righty a solidified role in Minnesota’s five-pitcher starting rotation.

 

Like Pittsburgh, Minnesota entered the 2026 campaign with a surplus of high-end starting pitching talent, headlined by Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, and budding stars Taj Bradley and Mick Abel. However, injuries have quickly decimated the club’s rotation depth, with Ober, Abel, and talented, young lefty Kendry Rojas on the 15-day IL for the foreseeable future. Losing these three arms, Minnesota is down to a four-pitcher rotation, headlined by Ryan, Bradley, a struggling Connor Prielipp, and an inconsistent Zebby Matthews. Mike Paredes is on the 26-man roster as a long reliever, at least for the moment, but even after the team picked up another Pirate (Justin Lawrence, a short reliever) in a cash deal Monday night, it's not clear who will start Thursday evening against the Royals. Minnesota is still in dire need of starting pitching depth, particularly if the club wants to remain in postseason contention as the dog days of summer near.

 

""Yeah, I think everything needs to be on the table," Zoll told reporters Monday about the apparent hole in the rotation. "We've worked through all the considerations ... but I think when you go true bullpen games, that can be challenging, but we probably need to see how we get through the next day or two and the state of the bullpen before we finalize any plans."

 

Primarily throwing a four-seamer, splitter, sinker, and curve, Mlodzinski would instantly slot in as a valuable member of Minnesota’s starting rotation, likely filling the third spot behind Ryan and Bradley. Even if Ober, Abel, and/or Rojas return soon, Mlodzinski would be in position to retain a rotation spot, given Prileipp’s, Matthews’s, and Rojas’s inconsistency this season and the team's desire to keep Prielipp and Rojas from taking on too large a workload too quickly. Though it's hardly ideal, the team might well switch to a six-man rotation for some stretches, giving their young starters an extra day between appearances to both optimize recovery and slow their accumulation of innings.

 

Any team that acquires Mlodzinski would want to avoid recreating the awkward series of events that has led to the promising righty’s falling out with Pittsburgh’s decision-makers. Given the injuries Twins starting pitchers have sustained this season, Mlodzinski would be all but guaranteed a rotation spot with Minnesota for the rest of the 2026 season, potentially playing an integral role in the club’s ability to return to the postseason for the first time since 2023. Besides, there's one person we know likes Mlodzinski as a starter, and who gave him that job for the first time at the end of spring training last year: then-Pirates manager Derek Shelton.

 

"I think through the spring, we saw him not only increase in velocity, but saw him maintain the velocity, which was something that really made us feel confident that he can be a starting pitcher,” Shelton said after Mlodzinski returned to the rotation last March, having spent the previous two seasons working in relief. “It wasn't one time through the order; we saw it maintain in the fourth inning, fifth inning in Spring Training."

 

There's familiarity between the manager and this prospective addition—and a history of the kind of trust and faith the pitcher clearly needs to feel from his superiors. There's also a glaring need. Presumably, the Pirates won't give up Mlodzinski for nothing—he remains under team control through 2029 and isn''t even arbitration-eligible until this winter. If the cost of acquiring him has been dramatically reduced by the tension between employers and employee, though, the Twins should swoop in.

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[thelanges5]

Intrigued but what would he cost? Whats the trade that would get it done?

[mikelink45]

Fun speculation. 

[DJL44]

Ober for Mlodzinski - is that enough?

Jeffers would be a great addition to the Pirates if they want to swing a big deal.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Welp, they just acquired Lawrence from the Pirates so perhaps they're still talking...

[mickster]

29 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Ober for Mlodzinski - is that enough?

Jeffers would be a great addition to the Pirates if they want to swing a big deal.

not enough, and why would either team do that?   Matt Wallner might entice them

[Nshore]

Pass.  Can't pronounce his last name.

[nicksaviking]

Maybe if it's for an expiring contract. As a starter this guy doesn't miss bats so chances are it would soon be in the Twins best interest to also put him in the pen.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Excellent framework @Cody Schoenmann, I very much enjoyed your write up.

i think this makes a ton of sense, especially since Ryan is likely traded at the deadline. Critical here is an assumption that the Twins coaching staff and catchers can get a little extra somethin’-somethin’ out of him. A little more life on a breaking pitch, call a game that fits his skills better, etc.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

53 minutes ago, mickster said:

not enough, and why would either team do that?   Matt Wallner might entice them

Agreed on Ober not being the piece, but why the hell would Wallner move the needle?

Prospects are the currency of trades.

Gabby might be a bit much, but likely along those lines. If it feels like a bit much, it’s probably pretty close.

[strumdatjag]

Royce Lewis is disgruntled for the Twins.   Somewhere out there in TD-land, someone  is smarter than me in thinking how a Mlodzinski for Lewis trade could be accomplished.  I would think the Pirates would have to add a prospect or player,  since that pitcher’s last name is harder to pronounce and spell than Lewis.  

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Agreed on Ober not being the piece, but why the hell would Wallner move the needle?

Prospects are the currency of trades.

Gabby might be a bit much, but likely along those lines. If it feels like a bit much, it’s probably pretty close.

Why would you trade part of the future this year? It's a lost year. No way I'm trading a legit prospect for a guy that doesn't miss many bats. 

[mrtwinsfan]

instead  Twins go diving AGAIN,  

Right-hander Justin Lawrence, designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, was traded to the Minnesota Twins in a cash transaction on Monday.

Lawrence, 31, went 0-2 with a 5.32 ERA in 23 relief appearances for Pittsburgh this year. He struck out 25 and walked 12 in 22 innings.

He pitched four seasons for the Colorado Rockies (2021-24) before the Pirates claimed him off waivers in March 2025.

In 222 major league appearances, all in relief, Lawrence owns a 13-14 record, 14 saves and a 5.05 ERA. He has 236 strikeouts and 130 walks in 233 2/3 innings

[mrtwinsfan]

1 hour ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

Welp, they just acquired Lawrence from the Pirates so perhaps they're still talking...

Right-hander Justin Lawrence, designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, was traded to the Minnesota Twins in a cash transaction on Monday.

Lawrence, 31, went 0-2 with a 5.32 ERA in 23 relief appearances for Pittsburgh this year. He struck out 25 and walked 12 in 22 innings.

He pitched four seasons for the Colorado Rockies (2021-24) before the Pirates claimed him off waivers in March 2025.

In 222 major league appearances, all in relief, Lawrence owns a 13-14 record, 14 saves and a 5.05 ERA. He has 236 strikeouts and 130 walks in 233 2/3 innings