Pittsburgh Pirates: Where They Will Need to Spend Money

The Pittsburgh Pirates have an extremely strong group of prospects, but where do they need to spend their money to complete the rebuild?

With about a third of the season remaining it seems as though the Pittsburgh Pirates will go another year without the playoffs. Nobody expected a Pittsburgh playoff run this year, however there is an expectation to make a run in the not too distant future.

Bucco fans are looking towards Ke’Bryan Hayes to hopefully lead the charge and the Pirates should have talented reinforcements on their way up over the next couple of years. Pittsburgh has one of the strongest farm systems in all of baseball.

For the Pittsburgh Pirates to be successful they will need a number of these prospects to turn into impactful everyday players that are still under their rookie contract. This will allow Pittsburgh’s front office to identify their weaknesses and go out in free agency to fill in the gaps with proven veterans.

In a perfect world, in the not so distant future the Pirates would hope to have a lineup similar to this:

Catcher- Henry Davis

First Base- Mason Martin

Second Base- Nick Gonzales

Shortstop- Liover Peguero

Third Base- Ke’Bryan Hayes

Left Field- Oneil Curz

Center Field- Bryan Reynolds

Right Field- Travis Swaggerty

The Pittsburgh Pirates have to be prepared that some of these guys may not turn out to be the player they hoped they would become. There may be a hole or two but for the most part there is a real possibility that this could be the lineup in two to three years.

Pittsburgh still needs to extend Reynolds in order for that lineup to fall into place. A Reynolds extension would be a serious investment. Not everyone can be under rookie contracts though so why not put your money into an All-Star center fielder who has proven to be a reliable bat as well as a great fielder.

If the Pirates can extend Reynolds, they may not need to go out and spend too much money elsewhere when it comes to their lineup. Swaggerty and Martin seem to have the least promise of the players in that lineup but both have shown signs.

Martin is a strictly power bat that could be what you need. He has 19 home runs this season through 278 at-bats and had 35 all of 2019. Travis Swaggerty hasn’t had as much success at the plate but does have decent speed and has an above average glove.

The rotation is where the Pirates may need to spend a little bit more money. Pittsburgh had hoped Mitch Keller would turn into an ace but his struggles have been concerning. There are plenty of promising right-handed pitchers in the organization with Quinn Priester at the top of the list but what the Pirates lack is arms from the left side.

A focus over the next two offseasons for Pittsburgh is to go out and sign proven lefties that still have something in the tank. A few potential targets could be Danny Duffy (2022), Eduardo Rodriguez (2022), Blake Snell (2024), and Julio Urias (2024).

Guys can fall off but these are just a few names that could be a nice fit for the Pirate starting rotation. Depending on how things shake up, these are guys that will most likely require larger contracts than Pirate fans are used to seeing.

The goal is to win and the Pirates could have a real shot in a few years from now. During the window of opportunity it is crucial to sign players that fill gaps on your roster. It will be exciting to see which prospects turn into studs and who the Pirates go out and sign over the next few seasons.