Pirates Don't Make Offensive Upgrades at Trade Deadline
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MILWAUKEE — The Pittsburgh Pirates went for it at the trade deadline, particularly for their pitching staff, but not so for their lineup.
The Pirates made four additions to their bullpen in the likes of Lake Bachar of the Miami Marlins, Camilo Doval of the New York Yankees, Luke Weaver of the New York Mets and Kirby Yates of the Los Angeles Angels.
Pittsburgh massively bolsters their bullpen the rest of the way, a weak spot in their team, but they didn't address the offense at all.
The Pirates do have one of the better offenses in baseball, but with links ahead of the trade deadline to a potential bat, they never added.
Pirates GM Addresses Lack of External Offensive Additions
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington spoke about how they looked for position players and bats that could make a difference for them in 2026.
Cherington noted that while they looked for these players and defensive studs, no trade made sense to them and/or that they were willing to go for at this deadline.
He also mentioned injured players like center fielder Oneil Cruz, shortstop Konnor Griffin and right fielder/first baseman Ryan O'Hearn and that their eventual return gives them optimism for the offense as well.
"Yeah, we did. We considered position players coming back, bats, or potentially defensive-type players, upgrades there," Cherington said. "On that front, didn’t ultimately believe that there was a player available at a price we believed in that was enough of an upgrade from what we have.
"Belief in Oneil coming back, that that's going to be a big boost, hopefully soon enough. Obviously, still optimistic Konnor [will return] sometime later in the season. I think the overall position player mix, now that we have the O'Hearn news — and again, hoping Oneil’s back soon — we'll continue to look at that in terms of ‘how do we use the guys we do have in the best possible way’ now that we're past the deadline and that's more clear.
"Certainly considered it, but yeah, just didn't line up on anything that we thought made sense and also was an upgrade.
Why the Pirates Wanted to Add Offense
Pittsburgh has had a great offense, but they've struggled a bit as of late and not produced the run support that they normally do.
Injuries have hurt the Pirates, who recently just got catcher/first baseman Endy Rodríguez and first baseman Spencer Horwitz back fully healthy after a glute strain and a hamstring injury, respectively.
Cruz has missed the past two months with a fractured left hand, Griffin suffered another injury, left ring finger sagittal band, that has him out for six-to-eight weeks, same with O'Hearn, who just injured his right quad against the Cincinnati Reds and is out for the same amount of time.
The Pirates should get Cruz back in the coming week or so, whenever he begins his rehab assignment, but Griffin won't be around until mid-September and then O'Hearn should return mid-to-late September.
Pittsburgh has also struggled massively against left-handed pitching, as they are 10-23 when a left-handed pitcher starts a game.
The Pirates did have links to right-handed hitting outfielders in Taylor Ward of the Baltimore Orioles and Jo Adell of the Angels, but Ward went to the Seattle Mariners and Adell is now with the Cleveland Guardians.
Pittsburgh does have two strong right-handed bats in third baseman Nick Gonzales, with his .309 batting average ranking tied-fourth in baseball, and rookie right fielder Esmerlyn Valdez has shown incredible power and plate discipline in less than 50 games.
The Pirates have to limit their injuries and hope their best players come back healthier, sooner than later, so they can make their first run to the postseason since 2015.
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Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.