Former GM Urges Pirates To Go 'All In'
With one of the best young tandems atop their pitching rotation, one could make a strong argument the Pittsburgh Pirates are a big move or two away from being a bonafide contender in the National League.
That move has yet to come for the Pirates this offseason.
Frustration toward Pittsburgh's approach goes beyond the fanbase. Former Cincinnati Reds (1992-2003) and Washington Nationals (2005-2009) general manager Jim Bowden spoke about where the Pirates stand and noted the difficulty for small market teams to acquire quality starting pitching due to how much they cost in free agency. While Pittsburgh doesn't have that problem with 2024 National League Rookie of the Year and NL CY Young Award finalist Paul Skenes and Jared Jones leading their rotation for the foreseeable future, it won't matter much if the Pirates don't have the bats to provide enough run support.
Bowden cited the Arizona Diamondbacks trading right-handed pitcher Slade Cecconi to the Cleveland Guardians for power-hitting first baseman Josh Naylor as an example of what Pittsburgh should be looking to do to support its pitching.
"I go back and I look at the Josh Naylor trade with the Guardians," Bowden said on MLB Network Radio. "You're telling me the Pirates couldn't have offered more than what Arizona did to get Naylor? Naylor's 30 [home runs and] 100 [RBIs] in the middle of this lineup. Changes it for them. Completely changes it."
The Pirates made a trade earlier in the offseason with the Guardians for left-handed hitting first baseman Spencer Horwitz, who they acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in a trade for All-Star second baseman Andrés Giménez. Horwitz played in 97 games for the Blue Jays last season and batted .265/.357/.433 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs.
Pittsburgh has struggled offensively throughout its playoff drought that dates back to 2015. Those struggles persisted for the Pirates in 2024, as they ranked 23rd in batting average, 24th in runs, 26th in on-base percentage and 27th in slugging percentage.
Bowden described the Pirates having another largely quiet offseason as a mistake and compared them to the Seattle Mariners, who is also having a quiet offseason after they missed the playoffs in 2024 despite their pitching having the lowest ERA in baseball. He also called out the ownership of both teams, imploring them to go all in to capitalize on the window they have with two of the better pitching staffs in baseball.
"If you're a team like the Pirates, like the Mariners, and all of a sudden you have the pitching and you're not making the effort to get the offense to win, you don't even understand the mistake you're making for your fan base," Bowden said. "And if you're an owner, step up."
Bowden added: "If you're the Pirates, and you built this rotation, you're the Mariners, and you have one of the top three rotations of baseball, this is when you have to go all in. You have to go all in."
