The Pirates Have One HUGE Problem To Fix This Winter

Matthew Liberatore has not had a good season.

Even with Wednesday's performance, he is a five-twenty-three ERA on the year.

He had not won a game since July eleventh.

But he throws with his left hand, so of course this Pirates team had serious problems with him on Wednesday and lost again.

And as we look for ways for this Pirates team to get better in twenty-twenty-seven, Hitting lefties is gotta be near the top of the list.

How do they go about doing it?

Good morning and welcome to Offbeat here on North Shore Nine presented by FanDuel.

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

It really is just a broken record at this point.

Whenever I did my list for book rule bucks of the ten reasons why this Pirates team didn't make the playoffs, One of them was just bluntly can't hit a lefty.

They are now eighteen and thirty three against left handed pitching this year and just looking at the, projected starters the rest of the way.

That's probably the last time they're going to face a lefty.

Exhale.

It might finally be done.

No team in baseball has a worse OPS against left-handed starters than the Pirates.

No team has a worse batting average against left-handed starters than the Pirates.

No team in baseball has a worse on-base percentage against left-handed starters than the Pirates.

And no team in baseball has a worse slugging percentage against left-handed starters than the Pirates.

It is a clean sweep of being thirtieth out of thirty.

That needs to change.

Last year, the focus was they had to get this offense better.

It was a historically bad year in twenty five.

They had to get the offense better.

And the way they did it or a big part of that strategy was they needed to get more left handed.

And the lefty bats they brought in were good.

Part of the problem, though, is throwing twelve million dollars at Marcell Ozuna at the end.

Because he could add some balance and he didn't.

But this is a problem that goes beyond Marcell Ozuna.

So you're like, okay, who are the other big hitters in this lineup?

Oh, Oneil Cruz.

He had a historically bad year against lefties in twenty five.

He took a huge step forward.

He was quite good against left handed pitching.

OK, if not him, what about Bryan Reynolds?

he had a six hundred OPS against left handed starters last year.

I bet you he had another really bad year.

No, actually coming into play on Wednesday, eight twenty OPS against left handed starters.

The main characters have helped.

And I get Ryan O'Hearn, Brandon Lowe, they didn't have great numbers against left handed pitching, but you knew that coming in.

You knew that they were lefty hitters who have in their careers done far better against right-handers than left-handers.

There is no surprise there.

So why was this team so bad?

Imagine how bad they would have been if it wasn't for the emergence of Esmerlyn Valdez, who I think is a good young player who has a promising future.

Coming into the year, though, he was a question mark.

And not only was he was a question mark, he never played a game in AAA.

So for him to come up to the major leagues on its own would be a good year.

Him contributing the way that he did was huge.

And I know he got streaky, after that absolutely incredible July.

But you take those season results.

You take that from a right-handed hitter.

You have to wonder how bad they'd be against lefties if he hadn't emerged and basically been everything they hoped Marcell Ozuna was going to be.

I look at other right-handed hitters.

Nick Gonzales in twenty four.

I can't remember who on fan graphs, apologies, wrote like, yeah, he looks like a platoon because he really struggled against right-handed pitching.

But against lefties, he had an eight, thirty seven OPS.

This year, six, sixty seven OPS coming into play.

That's weird to have those reverse splits.

I know it was a sample size of only like ninety something plate appearances in twenty four.

But.

The hand platoon, you would think, OK.

He could at least be average against left handed pitching.

Or if he was not going to be average.

Oh, he just would struggle against everyone.

But no, he hit right handers.

Reverse splits.

They're weird.

Jared Triolo is someone who.

Yeah, I know the offense has never been, he's never put up a full year offensively.

But before this year, he would always turn it on, in August and September.

Pumpkin spice triolo, as the graphic card would say here on North Shore Nine.

That didn't happen.

That's another right-handed bat who had done well against left-handed pitching in his career, just never really got going.

Konnor Griffin.

Right-handed bat, he is going to be one of the big hitters for this team for years to come.

But we talked last week, there are still some holes in his swing.

One of them is facing left-handed pitching, especially whenever they challenge him in.

Did an episode on it last week.

I'm confident that he will continue to get better.

Not just in that one area, but just as a player overall.

He's twenty years old.

Nobody should expect him to be a finished product.

But that is a big hole.

If lefties know, just jam the fastball in, he's having a hard time getting his hands in, they're going to attack that way.

Interesting to see how he comes around.

But I look at this lineup.

Rafael Flores Jr., maybe he could be part of the solution for getting better against lefties.

Maybe you could expect more from Konnor Griffin.

Maybe you could expect more from Nick Gonzales.

But it is an issue that I don't know if they can solve completely internally.

I think you have to look outside the organization.

And if last year it was get hitters, preferably left-handed hitters, I think this winter, whenever you look at hitters, maybe you have to have a preference of getting at least one big right-hander in

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The most important free agent the Pirates have this winter is Brandon Lowe.

And I'm going to be blunt.

If you only bring back one hitter, if you can only sign one legitimate hitter, I want it to be Brandon Lowe.

He is one of the heartbeats of this club.

He has been their best hitter.

He has been their best player.

Man, would it be a hell of a message to send the clubhouse, to send the fan base of, we are going to keep this guy.

I'm not exactly optimistic it's going to happen, but he should be the first, second, and third priority.

I also get that he probably doesn't help this quandary.

He's a lefty who he did take Liberatore deep.

He is absolutely in the zone right now.

We have seen him run into a couple against lefties and it can, buoy the OPS enough, but he is probably not going to become a consistent plus hitter against left-handed pitching in his age,

thirty-three season and beyond.

So where else do you look?

One free agent I'm going to be keeping my eye on is Taylor Ward.

Some of the Pirates have had interest in for a couple years now.

Who is a free agent who had a good year in Baltimore and was traded to the Mariners and has an OPS plus of five in a hundred plate appearances there.

Five as in we count on one hand.

I view him as a bounce-back candidate.

Not just for what he did in Seattle.

He only hit seven homers in Baltimore.

That's a tough ballpark for right-handed hitters to homer in.

if there's any ballpark that's tougher than PNC Park for righties, it's Baltimore.

I don't know if Pittsburgh is ever going to be a really appealing destination for hitters who are on one-year prove-it deals.

But I'd still pursue him.

I'd still look for a way.

I'd kick the tires on Eugenio Suarez again.

I know he probably can't play much third base anymore, but I look at my first base options of Spencer Horwitz, and I really think they need to plan on Ryan O'Hearn playing more first base next year.

I would treat outfield as like do it once a week instead of starting every day.

Still gives you some positional flexibility.

Doesn't lock you in of, who your first base and DH are.

No, you can still bounce around.

But either way, either both of those hitters could really benefit from having a right-handed power hitter, even if he is a platoon.

I think he could still be more.

He got off to a really rough start to the year, but he still has now above average OPS plus.

Cincinnati in general has just been a nightmare for all hitters.

I would kick the tires again.

Not at the fifteen million dollar price point they talked about this last winter, but at a point where it's like, yeah, let's see what happens.

Because I'm looking.

For an extra outfielder.

slash DH or a corner infielder slash DH.

Because if Brandon Lowe doesn't come back, I think Nick Gonzales goes to second base.

That creates opportunity at third.

There's opportunity for an outfielder DH, a right-handed one, even with Esmerlyn Valdez, who could maybe even play some first base next year.

If you want to go that route, there are ways to get this team more right-handed.

without messing with the construction of what mostly worked throughout twenty six there's obviously still the trade market there are other ways you can make the team better but like this

is obviously a really weird off season we're going to be seeing and it's also incredibly important off season pirates are going to need to find ways to get better this is one this is a

big one I don't know what other ways this team gets better in twenty six without getting another right handed hitter.

Because like I said, your big bats, Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, they did their job against left handed pitching, left handed starting this year.

Your farm system did its job and it produced an outfielder, a right-handed, power-hitting outfielder who had a really good rookie year.

And I can even look at internal improvement and be like, Konnor Griffin, yeah, he can get better.

I don't know if it's enough, all those pieces put together.

I think this is something that you have to address externally and find ways to get better before a pivotal season.

Thank you so much for listening to Offbeat here on North Shore Nine presented by FanDuel.

If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe wherever you find podcasts or check us out on YouTube if you want to see my smiling face for the last time this season, at night at least, fighting the chills a little bit in Section three twenty two.

But thank you so much for listening.

We'll talk again tomorrow.

All right, that wraps up this episode of North Shore Nine.

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