Pirates’ Ryan O’Hearn Deal Snaps Team’s Nearly Decade Long Run of Penny-Pinching

Pittsburgh is spending a bit for the first time in years.

Orioles designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn signed a multiyear deal with the Pirates Tuesday. / Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

They’re a long way off from spending to the levels of franchises like the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets, but the Pirates are being a little less miserly ahead of the 2026 season. With hopes of maximizing their window with Cy Young winner Paul Skenes on the mound, Pittsburgh has acquired outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia and All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe via trade and signed reliever Gregory Soto to a one-year deal. In perhaps the most significant sign that the Pirates are ready to contend in the NL Central, Pittsburgh is signing former Orioles designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year, $29 million deal.

The deal is far from the kind of eye-popping contract that those aforementioned franchises throw out each season, but it represents an important step forward for a franchise that has scant looked interested in serious contention at the ownership level. As noted by the Tribune-Review, this is the first multiyear deal that Pittsburgh has given out in free agency since 2016.

Nine winters ago, the Pirates were just a year removed from a wild-card berth, its third consecutive trip to the postseason. That December, they signed a pair of pitchers to multiyear contracts: righty reliever Daniel Hudson to a two-year, $11 million deal and right starter Iván Nova to a three-year, $26 million deal.

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Pirates looking to snap lengthy playoff drought

Pittsburgh would regress in 2017, falling from 78–83 to 75–87. They experienced a bit of a dead-cat bounce in ‘18, jumping to 82–79 but they missed the playoffs yet again. In the years since, they haven’t come particularly close. A pair of 76–86 marks in 2023 and ‘24 stand as their best records since the ‘18 season, and even with Skenes dominating in ‘25, they managed to go just 71–91.

O’Hearn and Lowe in particular add a pair of respectable, professional bats to a Pirates lineup that had virtually no pop a year ago. As a team, Pittsburgh hit an MLB-worst 117 home runs—31 fewer than the 29th-ranked Cardinals—and finished at the bottom of baseball in slugging (.350) and OPS (.655).

O’Hearn spent last year with the Orioles and Padres, hitting .281/.366/.437 with 17 home runs and 63 RBIs. He was named to his first All-Star team after his first half with Baltimore.

He wasn’t the only solid bat that Pittsburgh has been attached to this offseason. The Pirates reportedly tried to outbid the Phillies for Kyle Schwarber, but he ultimately opted to remain on the eastern side of Pennsylvania.

It isn’t the splashiest signing of the offseason, but any signs of life from Pittsburgh are welcome; baseball is better off when all 30 teams are trying to field competitive rosters.

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