The Pittsburgh Pirates made a notable roster move on Thursday afternoon.
It has been announced that the Pirates are acquiring pitcher Ron Marinaccio from the San Diego Padres in exchange for international signing pool money.
Marinaccio had recently been cut by the Padres, but was traded before clearing waivers, so he will head to Pittsburgh instead of either becoming a free agent or being outrighted to the minors.
In the wake of the trade with the Padres, the Pirates’ corresponding move involved cutting ties with 9-year MLB veteran pitcher Dennis Santana.
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Dennis Santana Cut by Pirates
GettyST LOUIS, MISSOURI – MAY 20: Dennis Santana #60 of the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrates after beating the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on May 20, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images)
Dennis Santana, 30, is in his third season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but things haven’t gone particularly well this season for the nine-year vet.
He’s boasted an ERA of 6.05 over 44 appearances.
It’s a bizarre regression considering he’s arguably coming off the best season of his MLB career (in 2025). In ’25, he posted an ERA of 2.18 over 70.1 innings pitched with 60 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.867, which are all extremely impressive marks.
Santana now enters DFA limbo, and he immediately becomes a trade candidate if another team wants to give him a shot this season, but it’s also plausible that he gets outrighted to the minors, declines that assignment, and then elects free agency instead.
MLBTR.com’s Darragh McDonald wrote (about the DFA limbo process):
“The Pirates have decided to make a change and bumped him off the roster. 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 thereâs any trade interest. This yearâs 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.”
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Dennis Santana’s MLB Career
As noted, Santana has played in parts of nine MLB seasons.
He holds a career ERA of 4.37 across 333.1 innings and 319 total appearances.
Santana broke into MLB with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018, and spent four seasons with LA before pitching for the Pirates, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees and Mets (very briefly).
With the Pirates (2024 to 2026), Santana held an earned run average of 3.28 across 156.1 innings and 147 strikeouts.
As for Ron Marinaccio now being on the Pirates, he holds an ERA of 4.79 this season with the San Diego Padres over 47 innings with 38 strikeouts.
Again, Marinaccio has just been designated for assignment by the Padres.
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