The Pirates Are Finally Being Taken Seriously in Free Agency

I think if you asked any pirate fan, reporter, podcaster, anyone in like that Pittsburgh or pirates stratosphere, what should the pirates do to get better?

They're going to have fairly similar answers.

We watched a lot of Pirates baseball in 2026.

We saw the areas that they need to improve in.

I've always been fascinated by the league projections, though.

What do people who cover all 30 teams or aren't as intimately viewing Pirates baseball think they need?

We're going to look at that demographic today.

Good morning and welcome to OffBeat here on North Shore Nine.

My name is Alex Stumpf and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh Pirates.

I'm going to go based off of the MLBTR list first here.

Because they listed their top 50 free agents.

The Pirates were listed as potential picks.

At least one person picked the Pirates as a destination for four different players.

Brandon Lowe was one of those players.

And look, let's be honest here.

That is the offseason.

I am hardly optimistic that Brandon Lowe will end up resigning in Pittsburgh.

But you've got to give it a go.

I think whatever he ends up signing for, the Pirates could end up paying him too.

They might have to get creative.

They might have to either backload the contract.

They might have to defer money.

There are a lot of different ways that you can make a contract work.

I don't think he's going to sign like a five-year, $150 million contract or whatever.

Did an episode earlier this week on what I think he could end up signing for.

Came up afterwards that DJ LeMayhew might have been a decent comp.

But he's not getting six years.

That was one person that I think we could all agree and the industry could agree also is like good fits.

It's the only guy in the top half of the list that the Pirates are linked to.

I don't think anyone really finds that much of a surprise.

The other areas that they gave were JoJo Romero, J.P. Crawford, and Robbie Ray.

And I look at those and I did an episode about how they need another lefty reliever.

And I think they projected him two years, $13 million.

I personally would do that.

I think that would be a good addition.

I think it would give you a little bit of stability for a 20-28 bullpen, too.

Because I don't know if you can keep Luke Weaver.

I think he's just a good guy that you can hand the ball off to in the seventh inning.

If you have a cluster of lefties coming up in the fifth or sixth, you could go to him and get out of those spots.

a leverage.

I really like the pick.

Again, the industry experts identifying lefty reliever as an area of need for the Pirates.

And as for Crawford, I'm not exactly enthused by that.

But like they said, or like we've said, the Pirates need another infielder.

And they view him as someone who could go over to third base and put Nick Gonzales at second base, which where he would probably do better defensively.

I see the vision there.

I think that is more a case of Crawford looking at like a two-year contract where he's going to make, that's going to be worth something $10 million.

I think that's more why they linked it to the Pirates rather than like, oh, this is the ideal fit.

But if the Pirates do end up losing, wow, then yeah, they definitely need another infielder.

And the other guy, Robbie Ray.

I think that comes with some caveat of maybe Mitch Keller gets traded.

And I, another thing we've talked about on here, I don't know if I go down that path.

I don't know if I'm trying to unload money or eat money for Mitch Keller and getting no prospect in return just so I can turn around and sign Robbie Ray.

I think Mitch Keller could have a bounce back year next year.

If no other reason, I have a hard time just salary dumping someone who 16 months ago.

At the trade deadline in 2025 was viewed as their top trade candidate.

Getting nothing for him would be disappointing.

Getting just salary relief.

Man, I'd have to feel unbelievably good about, signing someone, using that money elsewhere.

Like, whenever the Ke'Bryan Hayes trade happened, like, financial flexibility was cited as, a perk of the trade.

But they didn't know what they were going to spend that money on exactly.

It was July 2025.

They didn't know who all would be a free agent, who all would be a trade target.

They could have had a general idea, but, like, they didn't know exactly what that money was going towards.

This time, you would absolutely need to know what the money is going towards.

And it's a short offseason, so you'd have to do a whole lot of hustling.

I don't know.

I don't think it makes sense in either case there.

But, yeah, this is a rotation that doesn't have a lefty starter.

I see the appeal, or why the industry would think, yeah, Robbie Ray, that's a good fit.

All of these, I'm going to give some credit here to the MLBTR list.

I think this is a pretty good reflection of where the Pirates need to add.

They need an infielder.

They could use a lefty reliever.

They would love Brandon Lowe.

If you end up salary dumping Mitch Keller, adding a lefty to the rotation would be beneficial.

We have seen this team time and time again target, like, softer tossing lefties as free agents.

it worked out for Tyler Anderson, José Quintana.

It didn't really, like, Andrew Heaney.

And Robbie Ray still throws 93, so I don't know if he's exactly, soft tossing.

But he's pretty close to that archetype.

This is a pretty good reflection, I think, of how the Pirates have operated in off-seasons past.

I saw another claim, another suggestion on Wednesday that it's just not going to happen.

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On Wednesday, I saw a couple claims, a couple think pieces, a podcast, I believe, from Just Baseball that said, if there's any team that's going to, or any player who's going to take a hometown discount, it would be David Bednar.

And that, I don't think, is a good reflection of how the Pirates should spend their money, or that really being a possibility.

Like, David Bednar, obviously the Pittsburgh kid, was a good hometown story, but it didn't exactly end on the best of terms.

Nothing bad blood at the end or anything, but, like, he was optioned after the first series in 2025.

He was darn near optioned after opening day.

Even whenever he was an all-star, they weren't talking long-term extension with him.

Like, it just never really got the feeling of, like, yeah, he was going to be a lifer in Pittsburgh.

And, yeah, you could never have too much bullpen pitching, and a three-headed monster of him, Montgomery, and Luke Weaver would be the best in baseball.

No questions asked.

But, I, it's just not happening.

He has a qualifying offer on the table from the Yankees.

what is he going to do?

Is he going to turn down that much money so he can sign for significantly less for a team that optioned and traded him last, or, I guess, two years ago?

No, 2025?

I just don't see that happening.

In bullpen, like I said, I'm looking at lefty relievers.

The back end, I feel confident in with Montgomery and Weaver.

Obviously, you can never have too much.

If a trade or an opportunity and free agency for the right price comes up, obviously explore it.

But, I'm more worried about getting just another lefty, so it's not just Evan Sisk and Brandon Eisert in leveraged spots.

That's why I like the MLBTR list.

I think the industry recognizes what the Pirates need.

And I don't think that's really that's a surprise, because the Pirates had a winning record.

They could be in a postseason discussion in 2027.

And it's a roster that has some obvious weaknesses, but it's not like it was a couple years ago where they were just searching for players anywhere, and they were having this horrible roster churn.

No, like, there were some stalwarts here.

They know who's going to play shortstop.

They know who's going to play left field.

They know who's going to be pitching opening day.

Yeah, there are still areas that they can improve.

They can improve, get another right-handed bat.

They can do a lot, another infielder.

Catcher is a possibility.

Like, there are a lot of ways that this roster can improve.

But it's not a bad roster.

And honestly, seeing the Pirates connected to four players out of the 50 doesn't mean they're going to sign all four players, but I can't think of too many times whenever they've been a serious candidate.

I remember covering years where I'd look at the top 50 and they weren't listed for any of them.

Because why would a free agent go join the 2022 Pirates if it wasn't for opportunity?

A major league job and an opportunity.

That was the only thing the Pirates could sell.

The Pirates can sell more here.

They could sell opportunity.

They could sell this as a potential contender.

They could sell theoretically just outbidding people like they did with Rhino Hearn.

I'm interested to see how this all plays out.

But I think the industry might have the Pirates number here.

I think they are recognizing that this is a team that's a little closer.

And it's a team that if you want to shore up a few holes, they could probably identify where those holes are.

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