Pittsburgh Pirates: Positional Areas of Need Post Lockout

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball will have a lot of work to do after the lockout ends.  What are some positional needs?

When Major League Baseball and the Player’s Union agree on a deal it will be great for Baseball fans.  First and foremost, it means that there will be a season.  Secondly, it will set up one of the very active couple weeks of signings which is always entertaining.  So what will the Pittsburgh Pirates be looking to do post-lockout?

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a couple of key moves before the lockout went into place.  The team signed veterans Jose Quintana and Jerad Eickhoff.  They also claimed outfielder Greg Allen off of waivers from the Yankees along with resigning Yoshi Tsutsugo.  The final move was signing veteran catcher Roberto Perez.  This became necessary after the team deal catcher Jacob Stallings to the Miami Marlins.

With those moves, the team filled a lot of different holes.  Obviously, none of these moves are ones that will get the Pittsburgh Pirates fanbase excited, but that’s not the point, they filled needs with those acquisitions. However, there are still a few more needs that they will need to address when the lockout is over.

First and foremost the team needs more pitching depth.  The Bucs let go Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl this offseason.  Also, they did sign a couple of veteran arms.  However, those arms are not exactly inspiring the masses.  Both very well could be bullpen arms and not even in the rotation.  Quintana will likely get a chance to make the rotation, but he has been much more successful out of the bullpen recently.

The team also could use a 2nd catching option behind Roberto Perez.  The team does have Michael Perez who caught a good bit of time last season, but he has since been designated for assignment but remained with the Organization being sent to the Triple-A roster. This suggests the team is likely looking for a secondary catching option to have in front of Michale Perez.

Also, with the adoption of the designated hitter in the National League the team could use some depth in the outfield.  Many assume the Yoshi Tsutsugo will spend most of his time at DH or at first.  He can play outfield but that obviously is not ideal.  Also, it would not be the worst thing in the world to bring in some competition to go with Greg Allen.