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.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 