Pirates cut ties with veteran slugger Marcell Ozuna after a nightmarish slump amid playoff chase

The Pittsburgh Pirates released struggling veteran designated hitter Marcell Ozuna on Wednesday as they gear up for a playoff push.

The club made the move following a nightmarish stretch in which the three-time All-Star could never seem to get on track.

The Pirates, who entered Wednesday 3 1/2 games behind Arizona for the third NL wild-card spot, promoted outfielder Ronny Simon from Triple-A Indianapolis to take Ozuna’s roster spot.

Pittsburgh signed Ozuna to a one-year deal worth $12 million in February, a rare free agency splurge for the budget-conscious club. The team hoped the right-handed Ozuna would help balance out a left-handed-heavy lineup.

Instead, Ozuna started slowly and never found the form that helped him hit 296 homers during previous stints with Miami, Atlanta and St. Louis.

Ozuna hit just .203 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 70 games with Pittsburgh and had seen his playing opportunities cut significantly in recent weeks thanks to the emergence of rookie Esmerlyn Valdez.

“Didn’t have a season that he would like,” manager Don Kelly said Wednesday in Milwaukee before the Pirates faced the Brewers. “Just got to a point where we felt like we needed to make a move and open up the DH spot to be able to rotate.”

Ozuna has a $10.5 million salary this year. He had a mutual option of $16 million in 2027 with a $1.5 million buyout.

The decision comes on the heels of a trade deadline in which Pittsburgh, seeking to end a decade-long playoff drought, fortified its leaky bullpen with a series of moves, including acquiring reliever Luke Weaver from the New York Mets.

Kelly and general manager Ben Cherington defended Ozuna repeatedly, with Cherington expressing confidence the underlying metrics showed Ozuna was close to turning it around and Kelly praising Ozuna’s influence on the club’s Latin American players. But with a chance to play meaningful baseball into September on the line, the team opted to move on.

“It’s a tough spot, and hate to go through it,” Kelly said.

Pittsburgh also activated left-handed reliever Evan Sisk off the injured list and optioned reliever Wilber Dotel to Triple-A Indianapolis on Wednesday.

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