I agree that Kuhl and Williams can't just be put into the bullpen overnight. For starters, it's not a simple transition, and if you decide to do it, it probably should be a fairly permanent decision, at least until the end of this season.
I will say that I think Kuhl's spot should not be so secure. The uptick in his velocity is great, but he really hasn't shown anything of consistency this season. Left-handed batters are a serious problem for him, as is going beyond the fifth inning, which is disastrous given our bullpen options. He hasn't been terrible for a backend starter, but we could certainly use more. Brault has put together a very good AAA campaign and should be on the cusp of a callup whenever there is an opening.
It is pretty myopic to just dismiss all AAA performance out of hand because Glasnow can strike out a bunch of guys there and struggle in MLB. That doesn't have anything to do with Brault whatsoever. He's just entered an age 25 season and we have barely 30 innings of an MLB sample size from him. Unless Kuhl is stellar on Thursday night, it would be perfectly reasonable to shake things up after the all star break.
I'm not sure if the answer is optioning him back to Indy or putting him into the pen. A lot probably depends on how you evaluate his future prospects. It's a strange situation, since he doesn't quite have the strikeout potential that you'd like to see from someone with such a high velocity. The fastball/slider combination would play pretty well out of the bullpen, and it's a position of organizational weakness. It's not a bad experiment to try while he works on a slider. He can always re-enter the mix for the rotation in spring training next year, and if he's extremely successful out of the pen, he gives you a good option there with a ton of control.
Williams certainly can't just be put into the bullpen right now. I have been more skeptical of his potential than most people, but he's definitely been pitching the best of any pitcher on the team besides Rivero right now, and it's not because of luck either. The biggest thing to consider with him is if the strikeouts continue. He hasn't been able to get them at a huge clip in every start, but that's supplemented well by the fact that he gets a ton of weak contact and a good number of ground balls. Who knows what the future holds for him, but right now he's a starter who you pencil in behind Taillon and Nova (and for now Cole) next year. His emergence is one reason why I'm more bullish on sending Kuhl to the bullpen to see what he does there: you can never have enough viable pitching, but we have some rotation candidates right on the cusp, and Williams was somewhat discounted by a lot of people, myself included. Williams is essentially placing himself in the #4 spot that Kuhl held down heading into this season, except Williams is pitching even better over this stretch than mostly everything we saw from Kuhl.
It's revisable later - if Williams falters, he can return to being a decent bullpen asset, but for now I think the move is Brault as the next in line for a promotion. I'm also of the mindset that I'd like to see Glasnow really turn up the pressure for earning a callup, rather than giving him another chance so soon. I really hope that he was given a directive about walks and throwing his offspeed stuff consistently, and that the Pirates basically don't give him another look until he does so. It's great that the velocity is back and he's stacking up gaudy K numbers, but let's see him go 7 IP with just 6-7 Ks and 0-1 BBs three or four times in a row.
