Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirate Morning Report: Giving The Opener Away

Final Score: Pirates 7 Mets 11

Why The Pirates Lost: A disastrous 1st inning that saw Oneil (I Don’t Need Sunglasses) Cruz misplay one ball and lose another in the sun. This accounted for 3 of the Mets’ 5 first inning runs. The Pirates’ pitching staff helped the Mets along by walking 9 and hitting one batter. The Mets’ pitchers did not walk a batter. The Pirates did score 7 runs. Last year they scored 7 or more runs 24 times and managed to lose 3 of them. Only 2 more losses to match that record. Paul Skenes did not look sharp, but with any luck, he would have gotten out of the inning with only 2 runs scoring. The Pirates did manage 10 hits, with Ozuna and Horwitz the only Pirates held hitless. It was not a good opening day for the Pirates as the pitching and defense were pretty putrid. The Pirates did hit 3 home runs, two by Brandon Lowe and one by Ryan O’Hearn. The bullpen tried to keep the Pirates in the game, with Yohan Ramirez pitching 2 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball. However, Isaac Mattson had a rough outing. In 2/3 of an inning, he gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. One of the walks was with the bases loaded. The Mets went long ball off Justin Lawrence to round out the scoring. The bullpen’s line was 8 and 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits while walking 7. Thanks to the Pirates’ inept pitching, the game was 3 hours and 8 minutes long. The Pirates made it a little interesting in the top of the 9th but fell well short of making a game of it.

Key Moments of the Game: It was the shocking 1st inning after the Pirates had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st on Lowe’s 2-run homer. Skenes set the tone for the day by walking the leadoff hitter, Francisco Lindor. Juan Soto looped an 83 MPH line drive to center for a single. Lindor tried to go to third and just barely made it on a bang-bang play. I was a little surprised the Pirates did not challenge. Bo Bichette hit a sacrifice fly pop down the right field line. Jorge Polanco hit a check-swing dribbler at 44 MPH down the 3rd base line for an infield hit. Luis Robert Jr. had what I thought was the key at-bat of the inning. After 3 pitches, he was behind in the count 1 and 2. He then fouled off 4 more pitches and was able to work a 10-pitch walk. This loaded the bases and set up the Cruz missile misfiring. Brett Baty hit a 103 MPH liner out to Oneil Cruz, where he took a fatal step in before going back and never came close to catching the ball. The ball only traveled 369 feet to straightaway centerfield. This cleared the bases, and then things got worse. Marcus Semien hit an 82 MPH pop-up out to center that Cruz let drop because he lost it in the sun. Skenes struck out the next batter and hit the following one. After 37 pitches, Skenes was removed. The Mets had scored 5 runs with only one ball hit over 83 MPH and none that traveled over 369 feet. From that point on, the bullpen allowed another 6 runs, helped along with all those walks.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Mets in New York at 4:10 PM. Mitch Keller will make his first start of 2026. Let’s hope he can get out of the first inning. Right now, the Mets are going to throw lefty David Peterson. It will be interesting to see if Cruz is in the starting lineup. In my opinion, he should not be. What a first inning to start the season. Better to have a first inning like that to start the season rather than one in an elimination game. Not that it would have made any difference, but the opening day batting order was a bit of a head scratcher. I still don’t think that Cruz should lead off. Jared Triolo batting 6th? I don’t know. However, let’s face it, the offense did not lose this one; pitching and defense just fell flat on their faces. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

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Pirates Morning Report: Can This Team Contend

Tomorrow the Pirates start the 2026 season against the New York Mets. This has been their busiest offseason this century. Optimism is high that the Pirates can make the playoffs. I have written about this before, but the Pirates have to do three things in order to make the playoffs. They have to pitch like they did last year. They need to be an average offensive team. This would be a gigantic improvement over last year’s league-worst offense. They were a better-than-average defensive team last year. There will be some drop-off in that performance this year, but as long as they remain around an average defensive team, they should be fine. How do the Pirates go about achieving those goals, thus contending for a playoff spot?

Let’s do the easy one first, the pitching. The Pirates should pitch at least as well as they did last year and maybe even better. Everyone seems to love the new pitching coach, and the Pirates have lots of young arms ready to take the mound. As well as the Pirates pitched last year, there is room for improvement. They were 7th in ERA. They were 5th in runs allowed. They were 3rd in Fielding Independent Pitching, FIP. All good numbers to be sure, but it is not inconceivable to think they could be the top pitching staff in all of baseball. As long as the injury bug does not get them, they should be a very reliable group. The challenge for the Pirates will be how to go about limiting the innings of Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. According to reports, they want to keep them right around 150 innings for the season. This is where Hunter Barco, Jose Urquidy, and the return of Jared Jones should help. The bullpen looks stronger than it was last year at this time. The other good news is that there are lots of arms in AAA that can come up if needed. The Pirates should be able to survive if there are some minor injuries along the way. The one man that needs to stay healthy is Paul Skenes. If everything goes well, it looks like he will be throwing a 200-inning season. If everyone stays relatively healthy, this will easily remain the strongest part of this team.

The offense is another story. Can they become average? It may not be as easy as you think, despite the acquisitions over the off season. The Pirates added Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’ Hearn and Marcel Ozuna as big bats. Add that to Spencer Horwitz, Oneil Cruz, and Bryan Reynolds and you have a formidable front 6 to the batting order. The last 3 not so much. Jared Triolo and Henry Davis/ Joey Bart are pretty pathetic. Nick Gonzales could be a sleeper here. He seemed to be making progress through the 2024 season. Somehow to start the 2025 season the Pirates allowed him to play about 6 spring and regular season games on a broken foot and ankle. Great medical staff there. In my view I do not know if he truly ever recovered from the injury. If he can become an average major league hitter or better then it will be a bonus for this team. The other thing that has to happen is Oneil Cruz needs to have a bounce back year at the plate. He seems to have had a good spring and looked pretty good in the World Baseball Classic in a limited capacity. The media like to say that Brian Reynolds needs to have a bounce back season. I think he just needs to hit like he did after the All Star break last year. For 63 games he slashed .276/.364/.453 for an OPS of .816, which is pretty darn good. If he can continue to do that and Cruz is able to become an all around good hitter, then this will be a much improved lineup even with Triolo and the catchers. The other good news is there are plenty of bats to replace these guys. The bench I feel is solid and there are guys in AAA that are just itching to get to the show. That’s not to say there are not potential problems. Lowe may not be able to stay on the field. Ozuna is 35 years old. O’Hearn is not a very good outfielder. I feel that most of these potential issues can be dealt with if the Pirates move to deal with them. That is main reason that I think there is real reason for hope. This is by far the most depth the Pirates have ever had at the Major League Level. There was a time not long ago, like last year, that you could say the only reason that this guy is in the big leagues is because he is playing for the Pirates. That statement is no longer true, not even close.

I really did not delve deeply into the defense because that can be such a subjective part of the game. I have always used Baseball Reference’s defensive metrics not because I think they are the best but just to be consistent. There is no question that the defense is going to suffer just a bit, but the key will be how much. I still feel it will not be significant. So, how do I think this team is going to do? I think if they stay healthy and Konner Griffin eventually makes a big contribution to this team; I can see them winning over 90 games. Even if things do go a little haywire, I feel they can right the ship and at least play over .500 ball and have a chance at the playoffs. I was very pessimistic going into last season, and I was right. This year I may be overly optimistic, but here is the final reason I feel the Pirates have a real chance. The manager’s name is not Shelton. I do not know how good a manager Don Kelly will finally be, but you can tell this team feels really good that he is the manager. Speaking of shocks, I still cannot believe that The Shadow got another managerial job with the Twins. I send all my condolences to the Twins faithful. The adventure begins tomorrow. I am gearing up for a wild ride.

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Pirates Morning Report: The 2026 Roster, Going By The Book

The season is now just 2 days away with the 2026 roster all set: thirteen position players and thirteen pitchers. On the whole, I do not have a big problem with what the Pirates have done. The Pirates use spring training performance as a reason for some of their moves. The reality is that the Pirate management had their minds pretty much made up before spring training started. Spring training stats are pretty much meaningless despite what the Pirates may say. According to them, it was Konner Griffin’s poor finish that led the Pirates to feel he should be sent down. However, having a slash line of .405/.463/.595 like Jhostynxon Garcia did was not good enough to make the team. Henry Davis and Joey Bart hitting .138 and .147, respectively, was enough for them to keep their jobs. Spring training had no affect on who was going to make this team. Let’s take a look at this mighty roster the Pirates concocted.

The biggest surprise is Billy Cook. In fact, he is such a big surprise he is not even listed on the depth chart on the Pirate website. He, along with Nick Yorke, spent almost the entire year at AAA Indianapolis in 2025. They were acquired at the trade deadline in 2024. The reason they made this team is because it is time to see what they can do. Although the sample size is small, neither one has been very impressive at the major league level. Essentially, there is nothing else left to do with them other than trade them or cut them loose. The rest of the team is made up of the off-season acquisitions and returning veterans. The roster was decided probably on February 1st. The pitching staff has one major shocker as the Pirates continue to feel that Yohan Ramirez has some kind of value. They signed him in the off-season, so I guess they felt he had to at least be on the team at the start of the season. Again, the Pirate website is short on information. This may be on purpose to make the Pirate management look not quite as bad for keeping this guy. On the Pirate website, it lists 3 teams that he has pitched for: the Pirates, Mets, and Mariners. He really has pitched for the Mariners, Guardians, White Sox, Mets, Orioles, Dodgers, Red Sox, and the Pirates doing 2 stints. He has a lifetime ERA of 4.71 and averages 4.5 walks per 9 innings. Maybe the new pitching coach will make a difference, but in a so-called pitching-rich franchise, there has to be somebody with a better record than this guy. At least he did not knock Hunter Barco off the team. Other than Ramirez, the same pattern: acquisitions and veterans. Despite Ramirez taking up a spot, the pitching should be very strong.

There you have it, the 2026 edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not on the team from last year are Andrew McCutchen, Tommy Pham, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Alexander Canario, Jack Suwinski, and Adam Frazier. Not one of these players had an OPS over .700. Andrew Heaney, Bailey Falter, Mike Burrows, David Bednar, Chase Shugart, Caleb Ferguson, and Johan Oviedo are not on the pitching staff. It will definitely be a new-look Pirate team on Thursday. Just how will this Pirate team perform? I will dive into that tomorrow. One final note as we evaluate the teams’ and players’ performance throughout 2026: I am not going to use OPS+ and ERA+ as stats as I have in the past. I feel there is too much subjectiveness, or maybe not enough, when evaluating a player’s performance with this method. This year, I am going to stick to raw numbers. Can this team make a run at the playoffs? Stay tuned for the answer tomorrow.

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Pirates Morning Report: What Will The Pirates Do?

It is one week from today that the Pirates will open the 2026 baseball season against the New York Mets. This blog is not going to speculate on what the Pirates are going to do to construct an opening day roster. If you try to think like the Pirates, you could cause yourself brain damage. I am not going to write about what I think the Pirates should do. That would lead to too much frustration. I played 166 rounds of golf last year, so I have plenty of frustration in my life. I do not need the Pirates to add to it. This is more of a fact-finding mission about the players that the Pirates have to decide on to make the team at the start of the season.

The decision-making process got a lot stickier when the Pirates decided to sign Marcel Ozuna. Two things happened. The Pirates lost a lot of flexibility in making out a starting lineup. Ozuna can only DH. He took another spot on the opening day roster. Ozuna had an off season last year. His OPS was .756. A lot of this was blamed on a bad hip. His combined OPS for 2023 and 2024 was .915. Does he have to perform that well in 2026 to consider his acquisition a success? No, I don’t think he has to be that good. Let’s at least split the difference. If we did that, he would have an OPS of .835. If he can do that, then he will be an asset to the team even though he is a one-dimensional player. If he fails to do that, even signing him for 1 year will be considered a bust. Now let’s look at the players that he is potentially keeping off the roster.

Konnor Griffin is grabbing most of the conversation on whether or not he should make the team. Right now, the speculation is that he will start the season in AAA. The main reason given is that he has had limited AA experience and no AAA experience. The Pirates have 5 young players who have a lot of AAA experience. It is hard to say how many of these players are going to make the team. Certainly, one less player will make the team because of Ozuna. All 5 players have similar AAA resumes. They have had limited major league experience. I will give a general rating of what type of spring they have had. I am going to list them alphabetically and make no mention of the positions that they can play. All 5 can play multiple positions, at least all of the outfield positions. All the ages will be what they will turn before or during the season.

Billy Cook is 27 years old. He has had a good spring training. He had 805 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .264/.352/.437 for an OPS of .789

Rafael Flores is 25 years old. He has had a poor spring training. He had 206 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .266/.369./.422 for an OPS of .791

Jhostynxon Garcia is 23 years old. He has had a great spring training. He had 351 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .271/.334/.498 for an OPS of .832.

Endy Rodriguiz is 26 years old. He has had a good spring training. He had 383 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line .275/.352/.445 for an OPS of .797

Nick Yorke is 24 years old. He has had a good spring training. He had 783 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .307/.379/.446 for an OPS of .825.

Those are the 5 players that could possibly play at the major league level. It is a little eerie how similar their AAA stats are. Their OPS ranges from a low .789 (Cook) to a high of .832 (Garcia). There are some problems with each one of them: Cook, his age; Flores, a bad spring; Rodriguiz, injury problems; Garcia, young; Yorke, although the sample size is small, had not looked that great offensively at the major league level. At one point during the offseason, I thought all 5 players would make the 2026 Pirates. Throw Konnor Griffin into the mix and there would have been 6 young players on this Pirate roster to start the season. Of course, the Pirates could still make some moves that would change this picture.

On the pitching front, the Pirates are still in that “who will be the 5th starter” mode. I promised that this blog would not try and speculate what the Pirates might do to form the final 26-man squad. I am going to stick with that even when it comes to who the Pirates choose to round out the rotation. That could encompass another trade move; who knows? In a week, we will all know. For the Pirates, the formula for success is quite easy to calculate. The Pirates were a very good defensive team last year. They were 9th in Defensive Efficiency, 11th in total errors, and 4th in what’s called Total Zone fielding. With the starting lineup for 2026, the fielding could suffer some, but I do not think that much. It all boils down to this: the Pirates have to pitch like they did last year. They have to have a league-average offense. Their fielding has to also be right around the league average. If the Pirates can do that, they will make the playoffs. A lot will be riding on what decisions management makes on the 26 players that are going to make this team. That is one scary thought.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Current Pitching Staff

The Pirates last year had one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. That is the key phrase, one of the best. They had THE WORST OFFENSE in all of baseball, 2nd to none. This stat sums it up best. The Pirate pitchers had the 7th best ERA in baseball. Every team that had a worse ERA than the Pirates had a better record except for 4 teams. The Chicago White Sox 20th, the Minnesota Twins 24th, the Washington Nationals 29th and the Colorado Rockies 30th. The Pirates led the league in shutouts last year throwing 19. Twenty seven per cent of their wins were by shutout, the highest percentage in the league. The Pirates have lost 2 pitchers Johan Oviedo and Mike Burrows in exchange for more offense. Even though I have a sinking feeling that the Burrow loss may come back to haunt them, I do not criticize the trade. The Pirates had to do something. The staff looks still very strong. I will look at who I think should be there on opening day with the current crop of pitchers on the 40 man roster. That leaves Jared Jones off this list, but you know he will be returning sometime this year. We will include Jose Urquidy who is now on the 40 man roster.

I am going to do this a little differently. Instead of looking at the rotation and then the bullpen, I am just going to go down the list of players and decide where they will fit in and how likely that is to happen. Most likely, the Pirates will take 13 pitchers north when camp breaks. Who will those 13 be? Keeper No. 1, Braxton Ashcraft will be in the starting rotation. As long as he can avoid having control issues, he will probably be considered the no. 3 starter. Keeper no. 2, Hunter Barco, in my view, is the best candidate to hold down the 5th spot in the rotation. That could change if the Pirates add a veteran lefty. Even if that happens, I would keep him in the bullpen. Brandan Bidois had a great minor league run last year coming out of the bullpen. Not that likely to make the team, but he will be a great depth addition if injuries do come up. He was protected from the Rule 5 draft. Keeper No.3, Bubba Chandler will be in the starting rotation. Expect him to be the no. 2 starter. When he finally made it to the majors, he was spectacular. Wilber Dotel, another young strong arm for the Pirates, was protected from the Rule 5 draft. Again, nice depth, will start in the minors. Ryan Harbin, another Rule 5 protection, will start the season in AAA. Thomas Harrington had a rough 2025. He had a brief look at the MLB level and got knocked around pretty good. Unless there are injuries or he has a spectacular spring, he will start in AAA. He does have starter potential. Keeper No.4, Mitch Keller will be in the starting rotation. There is always hope that Keller will pitch as well as the Pirate broadcast booth says he pitches. They make him out to be another Walter Johnson. Even though he is not close to that, he is a solid average Major League starter, and that is nothing to sneeze at. He had the worst run support of any pitcher. Antwone Kelly, another young arm the Pirates have. He will start in the minors. Keeper No. 5, Justin Lawrence will be a solid bullpen member. In his first season, he had an injury that limited his innings. Hopefully, that is just a fluke. If he remains healthy, he will be a great high-leverage guy. Keeper no. 6, Isaac Mattson had a breakout year last year. Even if this was a fluke, there are plenty of arms to replace him, but I feel he is the real deal. Keeper no. 7, Carmen Mlodzinski. This is simple: bullpen yes, starting rotation no. Keeper no.8, Mason Montgomery. Left-handed bullpen addition. If the Pirates can get his control issues fixed, he will be awesome. Keeper no.9, Kyle Nicolas. Another pitcher who has great stuff, but location is a problem. If that is corrected he will be excellent. Yohan Ramirez. Simply no. I don’t know why they signed him. Even if there are injuries, I would choose the young guys before I would let him on the field. Cam Sanders and Evan Sisk are two left-handers who have been replaced. Keeper No.10, Dennis Santana. This is one of those guys who just goes along and quietly does his job. It is hard to say what the Pirates will do when it comes to closing. I would hope that they do it by committee. I feel that way is the best way. Having said that, I still will not mind it if the closer turns out to be Santana. Keeper no. 11, Paul Skenes, simply the ace of the United States. Keeper no. 12, Gregory Soto, the other lefty acquisition that should be a big upgrade coming out of the bullpen. Keeper no. 13, Jose Urquidy, certainly adds versatility to the staff. I see him coming out of the bullpen and making spot starts.

The wild card in all of this is the new pirate pitching coach, Bill Murphy. He comes from the pitching guru Houston Astros. He has been a big part of the pitching philosophy since 2017. Hopefully, he brings this successful philosophy with him. There is no question the 13 pitchers that are most likely to make this team have elite stuff. The issue has been putting that stuff where they want it. His 3 big projects should be Kyle Nicolas, Mason Montgomery, and the veteran Justin Lawrence. Believe it or not, Nicolas is the best of the group with a walk rate of 10.8%. Montgomery is at 12.9% and Lawrence is at 12.4%. If this pitching coach can find a way for these guys to get down to about 7 or 8%, this bullpen is going to be first-class. This is what makes Bubba Chandler so good. His walk rate is an amazing 3.2%. He is better than Skenes in that department, who has a 5.7% walk rate. Even though I think these are the 13 pitchers that will make the team at the moment, there is little room for error for this group. The young arms the Pirates have are chomping at the bit. The Pirates are not deep enough that they could absorb a slew of injuries, but they could weather a moderate storm for sure. Despite the upgrade on offense, the pitching is where this team is as strong as any in baseball. They will be even stronger when Jones returns. Their offense was solidly entrenched in 30th place last year. There was not another offense that was close to being as bad as they were. If they can improve to 16th to 19th, just below average, they will have a shot at the division.

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Pirates Morning Report: How Much Have The Pirates Improved

The Pirates have had their most active off-season in about 10 years. They will open the season with new players at 5 positions. Some of those players will be in-house, but nonetheless, they are not the players that played those positions on opening day. Their last acquisition, Marcell Ozuna, changed the whole dynamic of the team. Before this signing, I felt that the DH role would be pretty much by committee. It is a moot point now because Ozuna will be the full-time DH, if for no other reason than by default. This eliminates any possibility that the Pirates will sign McCutchen. All we can do is look at this team in its present state as spring training opens. In order to see how much the Pirates have improved, we will use one raw stat, OPS. This is the combination of on-base percentage added to the slugging percentage. This gives the total picture of how somebody is contributing to the offense of the team. I am not going to get into the comparison stat of OPS+. This takes in a lot of factors that could be argued. It is time to look at just the numbers. Let us see how this current Pirate team stacks up at the moment.

The players that are going to be playing the same position as they did last year will be the catching tandem of Joey Bart and Henry Davis. The other three will be Oneil Cruz CF, Bryan Reynolds RF, and Spencer Horwitz 1st base. Brandon Lowe will be the 2nd baseman. He will replace Nick Gonzales. Lowe’s OPS was .784 in 2025, compared to Gonzales’ at .661, an improvement of 123 points. Jared Triolo is set to start at 3rd base, replacing Ke’Bryan Hayes. Believe it or not, this will also be quite the upgrade. Triolo is at .667, while Hayes, when he was with the Pirates, was a pathetic .569, a 98-point improvement. At shortstop will be Gonzales. Gonzales will be a slight upgrade from Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Kiner-Falefa, despite the propaganda from the Pirate booth, was not all that productive with an OPS of .632. Neither one is anything to write home about, but the fact remains that Gonzales is a slight upgrade. In left field will be Ryan O’Hearn. He is replacing Tommy Pham. O’Hearn tops Pham .803 to .700, a 103-point increase. Last but certainly not least, Marcell Ozuna will be replacing Andrew McCutchen at the DH slot. Ozuna is a moderate upgrade from McCutchen with an OPS of .756 to McCutchen’s .700. There will be some that argue the Pirates are sacrificing defense for this decided upgrade in offense. A closer inspection shows that 2nd base, 3rd base, and shortstop grade out about the same between the players. The big difference is in left field, where Pham was a Gold Glove finalist, and O’Hearn is a decidedly below-average defender in left field. He is a very good fielding 1st baseman. The other caveat here is that these players have to at least repeat their offensive production of 2025. Although that is not a given, they could also improve upon their 2025 season. I really think that it is a flip of the coin which will happen. It will certainly determine how successful this 2026 season will be.

The Pirates can still make some moves. There are certain players that are expendable. The Pirates have prospects that teams should have an interest in. The other thing that the Ozuna signing did was practically guarantee that Rafael Flores will not go north with the team. Flores was the main piece in the David Bednar trade with the Yankees. He can play 1st base and catcher. This makes him, Bart, Davis, and Horwitz all expendable. The next expendable group would be Triolo, Gonzales, and Reynolds. Konnor Griffin and Password make them expendable. If the Pirates really wanted to make a bold move, they could move Oneil Cruz. Any of the above should bring in a good offensive 3rd baseman. What will the Pirates finally wind up doing with Jack Suwinski and Endy Rodriguez? Acquiring Ozuna took a lot of the flexibility out of the Pirate lineup. We will see if that turns out to be a good or a bad thing. The Pirates must feel that DH should be a full-time position. I must say that they may be right, but there is not a lot of data on that. Their lack of lineup flexibility does give them a lot of trade flexibility. Only time will tell, but it certainly looks like the Pirates have one or two more moves to make. We can only hope that they will be good ones.

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Pirate Morning Report: Who Would McCutchen Replace

There has been a lot of support for the Pirates to sign Andrew McCutchen. It gained some momentum when he was not at the recent Pirate Fest. I was hoping to write this blog after the Pirates made a move to upgrade 3rd base. That still could happen any day now, but I want to put my 2 cents in before this “sign McCutchen” rally gets any more ridiculous. Both social media and the local sports media have been really pushing this. If the Pirates were to sign McCutchen, it would show that they have fallen prey to sentimental slop rather than trying to win games. Let’s make a 13-man roster just for fun. This roster would not contain Konner Griffin, who I think has a good chance to make the team, but it would be unusual for the Pirates to make such a bold move even if he has a great spring training. We will make this roster very basic and then look at who McCutchen would replace on this roster if they signed him. The proponents of signing McCutchen point to the fact that the Pirates had a lot of players not having an OPS over .650, and adding McCutchen would make the team better. Have they not looked? We have a new team. I will pick 13 players to make the team with their 2025 OPS next to their name. McCutchen could have been an asset if he played 3rd base or catcher. He claims that he can still play the outfield, but the Pirates must not feel that way because they rarely put him in the field. In 2025, he played 7 games in the field and only played the entire game out in the field in 4 of them. Let’s look at a possible 13-man roster.

Things could change. Players could be traded. Another free agent could be signed making this even more crowded. Here are the 13 players that could make the team. Where noted I have put some players AAA OPS because of so few appearances in the Major Leagues. Joey Bart .696. Henry Davis .512 Nick Gonzales .661 Spencer Horwitz .787 Oneil Cruz .676 Bryan Reynolds .720 Brandon Lowe .785 Ryan O’ Hearn .803 Jake Mangum .698 Jared Triolo . 667 Jhostynxon Garcia .833 (AAA) Nick Yorke .825 (AAA) Rafael Flores .791 (AAA) The league average for OPS last year was .719. Naturally the Pirates were last with .655. McCutchen had an OPS of .700 last year, which is below league average. I would assume that this is not what you want from your DH. This 13 man roster does not include Jack Suwinski who the Pirates signed for 1 year and could make the team. It also does not include Endy Rodriquez whose short career has been marred by injuries. If he looks good this spring, could he make the team. As mentioned before this does not include Konner Griffin. Do you think he will stay down in AAA for the entire season, very unlikely.

This brings us back to the initial question. If the Pirates sign McCutchen, whose spot on the 13-man active roster is he going to take? Are you again going to stop the development of Nick Yorke, Password, or Rafael Flores for a below-average DH just because he is a franchise icon? All three of these players have spent 4 to 5 seasons at the minor league level. In my view, it’s time to put up or shut up. It is time for the youth movement to begin. The Pirates could swing some kind of trade that may open up some spots. If they sign Eugenio Suarez, the roster will tighten up even more. This is a good thing if, AND THAT IS A BIG IF, the Pirates make the right decisions when it comes to roster construction. Performance during spring training will have some impact on all of these decisions. We all know that spring training performance does not necessarily translate into regular season performance in both ways. At the present moment, the Pirates need to make a few more moves to make this team into a contender. Signing McCutchen is not one of them.

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The Pirate Morning Report: The 40 Man Roster, Position Players

The Pirates have had a surprising off-season so far. This is their busiest off-season, and supposedly they are not done. If Ben Cherington had just picked up the phone this winter, he would have had a busier off-season than last year. The new 40-man roster has 19 position players. There is talk of Konner Griffin making the team this spring. He is not on the roster, but if that is the case, that puts the Pirates at 20 players for 13 spots. On today’s blog, I will look at who I think has no chance of making the team, then the players that are locks for the final 13, so to speak. I will then take a look at what’s left for the remaining roster spots. This can all change if the Pirates make any more moves, and they say they are, but we all know that means nothing. I will discuss some of the moves they should make.

There are players, and surprisingly not that many, that I feel have no chance to make the team. The Pirates might not feel that way because, let’s face it, they think very strangely at times. Jack Brannigan, a recent addition to the roster, was added to protect him from being acquired in the Rule 5 draft. He is an infielder who has played 2nd, SS, and 3rd. His slash line at all minor league levels is .245/.356/.454. His highest level has been AA. It would be a stretch to see him make the team. Emanuel Valdez was acquired from the Red Sox last year. He played 1st base for the Pirates and was not impressive before his season ended with a shoulder injury. I am surprised he is still on the roster, let alone that he would make this team. Billy Cook would have had a chance if not for all the moves the Pirates have made. He is heading into his age 27 season with little chance of staying with the team this year. If the Pirates make any trades, I would not be surprised to see him as some kind of throw-in piece.

These are the players that will make the team unless they are traded: Joey Bart and Henry Davis. I still would not mind seeing either one traded, but if that doesn’t happen, I do not see the Pirates giving up on Davis at the start of the season. Nick Gonzales will be the shortstop or a bench player. Spencer Horwitz has 1st base locked down, especially the way he finished last year. Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds will be back, with the Pirates hoping for big bounce-back years. The new acquisitions Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, and Jake Mangum will be on the team when they go up north. If you are counting, that leaves 8 players for the remaining 4 spots.

One of the names missing that many people consider a lock to make the team is Jared Triolo. First, let’s clear something up about Triolo that has been written about him in the offseason. Everyone is saying he finished strong last year. He did not. He had a big-time August. In 109 plate appearances, his slash line was .315/.417/.467. In September, in 107 plate appearances, his line was .240/.290/.380. That is not finishing strong. This gave him a season line of .227/.290/.356 for an 86 OPS+, significantly below league average. When third base is considered the big hole in your lineup and your main position is third base, I think there should be some doubt that you are going to make the team. Yes, he can play all infield positions and is a great fielder, but with that bat, I do not think it is enough to guarantee a spot on the opening day roster. In no particular order, here are the remaining seven players fighting for the four opening day roster spots: Rafael Flores, Nick Yorke, Jhostynxon Garcia, Endy Rodriguez, Jack Suwinski, Esmerlyn Valdez, and last but certainly not least, Konner Griffin. At this point, I am not going to hazard a guess as to who might make the opening day roster. I will say at the bottom of the list is Jack Suwinski. The only reason he was not on the no chance list is that the Pirates gave him a contract. If he has a huge spring, they might consider bringing him up north. It is still way too early to do much speculation, especially with the possibility of more moves to be made.

As mentioned earlier, the big hole in the lineup is at 3rd base. The Pirates could trade or sign Eugenio Suarez. In my mind one of the new trade options could be with the Cubs. They just acquired Alex Bregman. That makes 3rd baseman Matt Shaw expendable. After getting off to a slow start his rookie season. He finished pretty well his last 63 games, slashing .258/.317/.522. He hit 11 of his 13 home runs during the 2nd half. The Pirates have also been linked to trade talks with the Phillies for Alec Bohm. I am sure there are other 3rd base options out there. We can only hope that the Pirates can plug this major hole in their lineup. Spring training is about a month away. The off season has been better than most for the Pirates but that is not saying much. Will they finish this off or has been all it for show. Only time will tell. Hope there will be something to write about before February 1.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Pirates 2nd Trade

The Pirates made their 2nd trade of the off-season this past weekend. They acquired Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, and Mason Montgomery. They gave up Mike Burrows. I have a hard time believing how positively this trade has been received by the Pittsburgh media. The same people who think Ben Cherington should have been fired are now thinking he is brilliant. There is no question this trade could work out for all the clubs involved. The Tampa Bay Rays got two high prospects from the Houston Astros. In this blog, I will look at only the players the Pirates received and who they had to give up. The other news is that Japanese star Munetaka Murakami signed a 2-year, 34 million dollar deal with the Chicago White Sox. Another example of Ben Cherington being asleep at the wheel. Let’s look at the players that are involved in the latest Pirate trade.

Brandon Lowe: He is the biggest piece. Brandon Lowe has had some injury problems that have limited his ability in the last 4 years. His 4-year slash line is .241/.317/.444. His OPS+ over this time is 113. Last year he hit 31 home runs; he hit 16 on the road and 15 at home. He was much better on the road overall last year. He had a 134 OPS+ on the road and 98 at home. This bodes well for the Pirates. He is a below-average fielder, and that is being kind. He will turn 32 in July. This may not be a factor in Pittsburgh, but he has not performed well in the postseason. In 120 plate appearances, his slash line is .115/.167/.257. He will become a free agent in 2027. He is going to be a 1-year rental. The good news here is that many times a player performs really well in his last contract year. Even though the Pirates are not saying this, I would not be surprised if he becomes the primary DH. There is little question in my mind that he will be a considerable upgrade no matter where the Pirates use him.

Jake Mangun: Even though Lowe captured the headline, Jake Mangun may be the best piece of this trade. He will be 30 years old in March. He has only played one year in the majors. He does not have any power. He is a switch hitter. He had a nice 2025 season. He slashed .296/.330/.368 for an OPS+ of 96. He stole 27 bases with a 79% success rate. He is a plus fielder. He is essentially Tommy Pham with speed. He spent 4 seasons in AAA ball where he slashed .313/.357/.439. The Pirates may have found their leadoff man. What I find interesting is that the Rays never used him in that role. He batted in the middle of the lineup, 4 through 6. There is no doubt he would be considered a late bloomer. They do happen, and it would be nice for the Pirates if he turns out this way. He is not going to be a free agent until 2031. I would be even higher on this guy if the Rays hadn’t been the ones to let him go. Maybe it was his lack of power. If the Pirates use him right, and that is leading him off, he could be the best thing about this trade.

Mason Montgomery: Left handed relief pitcher. With the addition of him and Soto a weakness has turned into a strength. Montgomery was up and down between AAA and Tampa all of 2025. You have to wonder why? He appeared in 57 games for the Rays. In 37 of them he gave up no runs. In 13 others he gave up one run. His last outing on September 10th he gave up 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning which caused his ERA to jump almost a run to 5.67. He was sent down and never pitched again. Hopefully the new pitching coaches can help him with his command because this guy has good stuff. In 55 innings he averaged close to 13 strikeouts per 9 innings. At the very least he has some great potential from the left side.

Mike Burrows: The bad news is that he went to Houston. Whatever they do, they bring out the best in every pitcher that goes there. Even elite pitchers are even greater when they go to Houston. Gerrit Cole never achieved the heights that he did with Houston, even when he went to the Yankees. In his 2 years in Houston, he had an ERA+ of 164. If you take his best 2 years out of 5 in Pittsburgh, he averaged 130. Take his best two years in New York, and it’s 158. The same thing can be said about the great Justin Verlander. His best years were with Houston. They obviously see something in Burrows. Burrows last year only threw 96 innings, coming off Tommy John surgery. Fortunately, Houston is not in our division.

The Pirates have helped themselves with this trade. It would be hard not to help themselves with almost any acquisition. It will depend on how they use these players. Frankly, I like Brandon Lowe as the primary DH. Keeping him off the field should help with the defense and his health. He has not DH’d a lot, but when he has, he has been effective. In 2024, with 150 plate appearances as a DH, he slugged .598. Last year, he only had 39 PA’s but still slugged .638. Mangum looks to be the leadoff hitter that the Pirates have never had. He has speed and a good glove. That is the question. Will the Pirates use these players properly? Only time will tell. Mason Montgomery is another left-handed upgrade for the bullpen. There is still work to be done. The Pirates let one slip through their hands yesterday. It is looking more and more like Eugenio Suarez could be the next signing. Despite his many shortcomings—lots of strikeouts, low batting average, and not a great defender—he too would be an asset. I just can’t see him settling for a 2-year deal. He is going to turn 35 in July. It will be interesting to see if the Pirates take the risk and for how long. You never really know how a trade is going to turn out. If the Pirates had unloaded Mitch Keller in either of these trades I would be feeling a lot better about them. It is good to see the Pirates doing SOMETHING. I’m just not sure it is going to have much impact yet.

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Pirates Morning Report: Stop The Presses The Pirates Make A Trade

The Pirates made their first significant move during this off-season by trading Johan Oviedo to the Boston Red Sox. The main player the Pirates received was Jhostynxon Garcia, soon to be 23 years old, an outfielder who has spent his career essentially in the minors. That first name will certainly be a mouthful. Greg Brown will probably just call him Horowitz Garcia. In 1,552 plate appearances at all levels of the minors, he has slashed .261/.351/.464. Good but not overly impressive numbers. This past year, in 351 plate appearances in AAA, he slugged .498. He is known to be a decent fielder and has played a lot of games in center field. This is the kind of trade that is low risk, high reward for the Pirates and the Red Sox. This trade could go either way for both clubs; it could be a dud for both teams, or one team could look like they fleeced the other team. It could be a great trade for both teams. Only time will tell. The Pirates now have two young outfielders with some high potential: Esmerlyn Valdez, who will turn 22 in January, tore up the Arizona Fall League. He has not seen any action higher than AA. It will be interesting to see how fast the Pirates allow these two to make it to the parent club. There were two other prospects sent to the Red Sox, a pitcher and a catcher. The Pirates received an 18-year-old pitcher to complete the five-player deal. The Pirates are fortunate that the Red Sox have such an abundance of outfield talent.

The Pirates still have their two big contract players, Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller. Together, they will make around 31 million in 2026. I don’t see how the Pirates can make any kind of splash in free agency and still have both on the team. Getting rid of both makes signing a free agent with a long-term 35 to 40 million dollar contract very feasible. Keeping them makes that almost impossible. Keller would still yield a good return. Reynolds would strictly be a salary dump, and hopefully, the Pirates may get a good bullpen arm, especially a left-hander. The Pirates making some kind of move before Christmas is pretty miraculous. Now, if they do something next week at the winter meetings, I may have to go on some heart medicine. This first trade may not turn out all that well, but it does make you feel that the Pirates may actually be trying to put a better team on the field. Let’s hope we see some more moves sooner rather than later.