Pirates Under Fire for Quiet Offseason
With a young and ascending starting rotation that could be capable of elevating a Pittsburgh Pirates team that went 76-86 in consecutive seasons, adding a pair of proven bats felt like a necessity this offseason.
Instead, Pittsburgh has only made one addition by trading for left-handed hitting first baseman Spencer Horwitz. While Horwitz is more than capable of helping improve the Pirates offense, he's still a question mark heading into this season given he's played 112 games across two seasons in the big leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays.
With the Pirates having a trio of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller and a pair of top 100 prospects, Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington, Baseball America analyst J.J. Cooper noted his frustration with the franchise and them sticking with the status quo rather than being aggressive in improving the offense.
"You look at a rotation that's going to have [Paul] Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, probably is going to add Bubba Chandler and probably could add Thomas Harrington this year, too," Cooper said. "That's really good, that's really important, that's really impressive [and] that really could be interesting, especially now. Though, again, there's a frustration that you wish that they had a little bit more lineup help to go with this."
Chandler is Baseball America's No. 7 prospect and Harrington was No. 74. Shortstop Konnor Griffin, who was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft landed at No. 57.
The Pirates offense struggled throughout the 2024 season, ranking in the bottom 10 in nearly every major stat. Given Pittsburgh's approach, its improvement on offense is going to bank on young players stepping up and others getting back on track.
Pittsburgh wasn't without options to improve, either, especially in right field. One option Cooper proposed was Anthony Santander, who eventually signed a 5-year $92.5 million deal with the Blue Jays. Santander hit 44 home runs and drove in 102 runs for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024.
"If you're a Pirates fan, you should be frustrated right now," Cooper said. "I don't know if Anthony Santander would have signed with the Pirates, but man, a guy like that, if they would have just been willing to actually spend some money in free agency [would] really help this lineup."
