Marco

Gonzales

Let’s just say we saw this one coming. Gonzales is expected to miss a significant portion of next season after undergoing flexor tendon surgery on his left elbow back in late August. The 32-year-old southpaw will head to free agency after making just seven starts in his lone season with the Pirates.

It’s a brutal blow for the veteran who was injured in early August. He has battled forearm/elbow injuries over the last few years and will face an extended recovery as he tries to make his way back in 2025 in what will be his age-33 season.

This is part of a constant string of forearm issues for Gonzales the last two years, and he’ll miss the rest of the regular season. Jake Woodford is in the rotation for now, and the Pirates may also want to take a look at Domingo Germán there. Trading away Martín Pérez, Quinn Priester and JT Brubaker has taken a toll on their pitching depth.

The 32-year-old southpaw walked two batters and struck out three on the night. Nearly all of the damage done against him came via the long ball, with Jackson Merrill launching a solo shot in the second and Kyle Higashioka adding a three-run blast in the fourth. Gonzales got just seven swings and misses on 91 pitches on the night, posting an underwhelming CSW of 23 percent. He’ll try to improve upon his 4.54 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and 23/11 K/BB ratio (33 2/3 innings) when he squares off against these same Padres in San Diego on Monday.

Gonzales also walked three while picking up a single strikeout. He gave up a run in the first and allowed a pair of homers in the second — a solo and a two-run shot — and labored in the third before being pulled. The left-hander was solid in his start against the lowly White Sox in his return to the mound on July 12, but his last two starts have been mediocre or worse. Assuming no changes to the rotation order, he’ll face the Diamondbacks again next weekend.

Gonzales was solid again Sunday after a three-month hiatus on the Injured List with a forearm strain. He led with his changeup and it forced six swings and misses. He’s rotation filler for the Pirates and is potentially stream-able in the right match up.

It’s an extremely tough matchup out of the gate for Pérez as he’ll square off against a fully-loaded Phillies lineup to open the second half. It’ll be Luis Ortiz and Marco Gonzales this weekend for the rest of the series. We’d strongly recommend avoiding this entire trio for fantasy purposes.

The 32-year-old southpaw punched out four batters on the evening and didn’t issue a base on balls. The lone tally against him came on a two-out RBI single by Luis Robert Jr. in the third inning. Aside from that, Gonzales was terrific. He got seven swings and misses on 60 pitches on the night, posting a strong CSW of 33 percent. Through his first four starts on the season, Gonzales is now 1-0 with a minuscule 2.45 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a 15/5 K/BB ratio across 22 innings.

Gonzales is set to start Friday night’s game against the White Sox. He has a 2.65 ERA in three starts with the Pirates this season. Those starts were back in April as Gonzales had been on the injured list with a forearm muscle strain.

Gonzales will be eligible to come off the 60-day IL next week, but expectations are that he won’t be back until the second half of the season. The left-hander had a 2.65 ERA in three starts before going down in April.