Pirates offseason plans

So much for the nonsense that the Pirates were going to sign Kyle Schwarber. He re-signed with the Phillies, which was almost definitely going to be the result all along. So the Pirates made an offer to a guy they were never going to get for the sake of giving the false impression that they are trying to win.

 

Sorry Paul, hang in there you'll get your payday.

 

Bucs picked up good hitting 2nd baseman Brandon Lowe from the Rays and sent pitcher Mike Burrows to Astros with several other lower players involved in a 3 team swap. It's a start and they have pitching to give up at this point. It's something and Lowe is in his prime. He hit 31 HRs last year and is a lefty which is a good fit for PNC. Sure could use a heavy hitter at 3rd and center as well although they still believe in Cruz in center and Triolo at 3rd.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ml...r&cvid=51a6c523483c49799ccde379de5b7eaf&ei=21

 

Gonzalez may be the odd man out. He has a negative WAR and Lowe will take that position. Horwitz was a lot better than Gonzalez, and was one of the Pirates’ more productive hitters last year. I think he will be moved. If he could playbthird, which I have no evidence that he could, he could stick for a while.
Triolo was the Pirates’ best player in 2025 and I think he is the shortstop, until Griffin takes the spot.

An infield of 1B O’Hearn, 2B Lowe, SS Griffin, and 3B Triolo would work for me.

 

Pirates continue busy winter with O'Hearn signing
The deal: Two years, $29 million (plus incentives)
Grade: B+

If you're a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, you're starting to dream a little bit. Over the past week, the frustrating team that seemingly never does anything during the transaction season has now made a couple of clear win-now moves. Suddenly, your anticipation for the 2026 season can include a set of expectations that factors in playoff contention.

Granted, some of this renewed optimism stems from baseball's increasingly unwieldy playoff format -- but with the addition of Ryan O'Hearn, Pittsburgh is moving well into the territory of mediocrity that, in 2026, can mean the playoffs. This is no small feat. Between O'Hearn and recently acquired infielder Brandon Lowe, Pittsburgh increasingly has a bona fide major league lineup to back up its exciting pitching staff.

O'Hearn's story is a great one. After surviving the early-career DFA merry-go-round that fringe hitters so often find themselves on, he finally established himself as a fixture in the majors once he stuck with the Orioles. He did so by improving the all-around utility of his approach at the plate, one that features more contact and plays better against lefty and righty pitchers alike.

Last season was O'Hearn's best yet, as he made the AL All-Star team and became one of the more impactful players to move at the trade deadline, when he went from the Orioles to the San Diego Padres. His improvement against lefty pitchers is now established to the point where you no longer have to consider him as a must-platoon player. That's an important consideration on this Pirates roster, which features key lefty hitters, such as O'Neil Cruz, Lowe and Spencer Horwitz, some of whom may need to be spelled against tougher lefties. A bench can have only so many righties at a time.

The risk here is simply that, at 32 years old, O'Hearn might be at risk for age-related decline, but there is no evidence yet that he's on that precipice. There are nits to pick: The Pirates' lefty-heavy new lineup will deploy in a lackluster home run park for lefty hitters, the aesthetics of homering into the Allegheny River aside. Also, they will need to rotate their DH slot, even if O'Hearn figures to get the most run in that role. But the roster evolution will lead to some configurations with a defense that is something of a Frankenstein monster.

In any event, there is a lot to like about this move for Pittsburgh and very little not to like. This is good stuff. Even after signing O'Hearn, the Pirates should not stop here, but clearly they have moved closer to featuring an average offense to go with their high-ceiling, Paul Skenes-led pitching staff. When you consider the built-in error bars endemic to the projection game, the Pirates' probabilities for making the 2026 postseason are no longer a joke.

For a couple of years, we've been looking at Pittsburgh's rotation and dreaming over what it might look like in a playoff context. Increasingly, the Pirates are moving closer to making that less of a wild fantasy, and more something that could actually happen in the real world. -- Doolittle

 

Pirates adding some sticks
Exciting
Looking to add a 3b
The Pittsburgh Pirates have gone after Japanese star Kazuma Okamoto this offseason.
LFG!

 

I'm smelling 81 wins.

 

After that nightmare in Cleveland the Bucs are coming to front of mind.