**Pirates move Urquidy at the deadline, but the rotation isn't the problem right now**

Pittsburgh dealt José Urquidy ahead of the trade deadline, trimming a starter from a rotation that already had questions behind Paul Skenes and Braxton Ashcraft. The move makes a certain kind of organizational sense. It does not solve what is actually wrong with this team at the moment.

The offense has fallen off a cliff. Pittsburgh was scoring close to six runs a game over a 20-game stretch earlier this season; over the last ten, that number is down to 3.2. Three straight losses. Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz are both on the injured list, and Esmerlyn Valdez left Monday's game after taking a pitch off the hand. That is three of the more productive bats either sidelined or banged up at the same time, and it shows in the box scores.

Skenes and Ashcraft have given the Pirates a legitimate top two — Ashcraft is 11-4 with a 3.93 ERA, Skenes sitting at 3.68 — so the rotation has held up its end reasonably well. Mitch Keller and Bubba Chandler have been inconsistent behind them, but that was true before the Urquidy deal too. The rotation was not the reason Pittsburgh went 4-6 over the last ten games.

The Pirates are 3.5 games out of the last wild card with 54 to play, so the window is real, if narrow. My read is the next two weeks are less about the pitching staff and more about whether Cruz and Horwitz can get back healthy and whether this lineup can find its footing again. Trading Urquidy is fine. Getting those bats back is what matters.