Earlier this week, I wrote about the possibility of Roansy Contreras going to the minors to be stretched out as a starter.
I didn’t know whether the Pirates would make that move or not. I explained it by pointing out that the Pirates could probably send Contreras down to the minors for a few weeks, stretch him out as a starter, and in the end, gain an extra year of control from him. If Contreras goes down for about three weeks, the Pirates would have him under team control through the 2028 season, rather than 2027.
On one side of that discussion is an argument saying that we shouldn’t be focused on the 2028 season right now.