Yet another bullpen implosion on Saturday night reinforced what has long been known — the Pirates need bullpen help at the trade deadline.

Pittsburgh has now blown 18 of their 37 saves chances this season and has a 4.46 bullpen ERA — ranked 23rd in MLB and 12th out of 15 National League teams.

The Pirates, who are looking to take control of one of three NL wild card spots, have a 51-48 record and are one game behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the race.

But the Pirates are going to need to improve the bullpen if they want to be true contenders. General manager Ben Cherington already made one move involving a reliever, when he acquired left-hander Brando Eisert from the White Sox in a three-player swap that also included sending a draft pick to Chicago.

But Cherington is not done. He wants to — and needs to — add more to the bullpen between now and the Aug. 3 deadline. Pittsburgh plans to be aggressive over the next couple weeks, but that aggressiveness might come with a caveat.

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Pirates plan to be aggressive in looking to buy but don’t want to add to an already-record payroll. Pittsburgh’s payroll is currently just over $102 million, which ranks 23rd in MLB per Spotrac.

It should come as no surprise. Owner Bob Nutting finally opened up his wallet more than ever before this past offseason, and the thought of him adding significant dollars to the current payroll always seemed far-fetched despite having a team capable of making the playoffs.

So unless the Pirates can salary dump someone like Marcell Ozuna, or at least get another team to eat some of his contract, expect their trade targets to be low-cost veterans or players who are still pre-arbitration eligible.

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