Nicasio was placed on irrevocable outright waivers Tuesday, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

EDGE Analysis

This means any team can claim Nicasio and assume the roughly $600,000 remaining on his contract without giving the Pirates anything in return. Essentially, the Pirates wanted to clear a 40-man roster spot and see an opportunity to do so and clear Nicasio's contract in a season where they are no longer realistically in the Wild Card race. Look for Nicasio to get claimed and pitch for a new team in a mid-leverage role before hitting the open market this offseason. He has a 2.85 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 60 strikeouts in 60 innings this season.

Nicasio recorded his second save Monday, striking out a pair of batters in a scoreless ninth inning against Detroit.

EDGE Analysis

The righthander was only pitching because closer Felipe Rivero was unavailable after throwing a season-high 41 pitches Sunday, but the outing showed what Nicasio can do. He's allowed only two earned runs in his last 20.2 innings, compiling a 21:5 K:BB since June 27.

Nicasio struck out one in a perfect inning to nail down his first save Thursday in Philadelphia.

EDGE Analysis

Nicasio turned in an excellent ninth-inning performance in this 6-3 win with Felipe Rivero unavailable after closing back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday. While he does have three blown saves, the righty's 2.54 ERA and 9.23 K/9 have him next in line for the closer role should Tony Watson's replacement start to falter.

Nicasio (1-3) allowed four runs without recording an out to blow his third save of the season during Friday's loss to the Cubs.

EDGE Analysis

After Tony Watson was removed from the closer role, Nicasio was expected to split ninth-inning duties with Felipe Rivero, so Friday's outing was discouraging. Still, Nicasio owns a rock-solid 2.45 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 9.2 K/9 for the season, so his body of work leading into Friday had been solid. It's probably best not to make any hasty roster decisions yet.

Nicasio will share the closer's role with Felipe Rivero moving forward, Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

EDGE Analysis

Back-to-back blown saves ultimately led to Tony Watson's removal from the ninth inning job, allowing Nicasio and Rivero to move in to collect save opportunities. It seems like a full timeshare will be used going forward, although the 30-year-old right-hander's 1.35 ERA on the season and his six straight scoreless outings certainly make a strong case for him to be picked up whether he or Rivero wind up being used more frequently to close out games.

Manager Clint Hurdle mentioned Nicasio or Felipe Rivero as a potential replacement for Tony Watson if the team decides to switch closers, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

EDGE Analysis

Hurdle said that there would be no joint bullpen to close out games. "Most of the time, it's closer-by-committee if you don't have a closer," Hurdle said. "I think we've got two guys to look at, if Watson's not the closer, at least to consider." Rivero has put together one of the strongest relief campaigns in 2017 and is likely the front-runner, but Pittsburgh could continue to deploy him in the highest-leverage situations, leaving him out of the running for saves. Nicasio has one save in seven seasons, while Rivero has three saves in three years.

Nicasio has only given up four runs in 20.2 innings this season.

EDGE Analysis

Nicasio has been pitching especially well of late, only giving up one run in his last 14 games. Over that span, he has held hitters to nine hits and five walks while striking out eight. For the season, his ERA is down at 1.74, a big improvement from last season when it was 4.50 in 118 innings. He'll continue to see plenty of chances for Pittsburgh but will probably be limited to earlier innings unless he can prove his new-found ability to keep hitters from scoring is more than just a hot streak.

Nicasio has allowed two runs and seven hits over 5.2 innings to start the season.

EDGE Analysis

Nicasio has pitched only one clean inning this season, but has limited the damage along the way. Still, the 30-year-old figures to be an important piece of Pittsburgh's bullpen in 2017. After moving to the bullpen last season, Nicasio went 5-2 with a 3.88 ERA, while striking out 75 batters in 55.2 innings.

Although the Pirates don't expect to use Nicasio as a closer, he will pitch in high leverage situations. "I like the role we had him in last year. He flourished in it," manager Clint Hurdle told the team's website. "There were games where he could give late-inning leverage, depending on the use of the other guys. There were days he came in and stopped the biggest situation of the game in the sixth inning, then was able to add another inning to it."

EDGE Analysis

He bombed as a starter in early 2016 but then pitched well out of the bullpen, compiling a 2.96 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 53.2 innings after June 26. Hurdle likened Nicasio's usage to that of Cleveland's Andrew Miller. "It was actually a similar situation to how you saw the two men [Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman] get used in the postseason," Hurdle noted. "We had a guy who was doing it for us." It will take injuries to Tony Watson, Daniel Hudson and Felipe Rivero for Nicasio to enter the saves' conversation.

Nicasio and the Pirates avoided arbitration and agreed to a $3.65 million deal on Friday, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

EDGE Analysis

The Pirates gave Nicasio a try in the rotation in 2016, hoping he could be another bargain-bin reclamation project, before eventually moving him back into the bullpen. While he might not be a real starter, he put up a 2.96 ERA after his return to the bullpen, so he seems to be at least an effective reliever.