Pittsburgh Pirates: First Base Addressed, Now What?

It is highly unlikely that the Pittsburgh Pirates would let Rodriguez start the year in the Big Leagues.  We saw the Front Office hold off on promoting Oneil Cruz for Super-2 reasons.  No reason to think the Front Office would change at this point.

According to FanGraphs, the Pittsburgh Pirates catchers ranked 21st in terms of WAR.  So while the position was not nearly as bad as the first base position, it still left a lot to be desired.  If Roberto Perez stays healthy who knows what the position would have looked like over the full season?  Instead, the Bucs once again did patchwork at the position.

Hopefully, that is not the for the 2023 season.  The Bucs have a bright future behind the plate with Endy Rodriguez, Henry Davis, and maybe even Blake Sabol.  However, none of those options will be on the Opening Day Roster for reasons outlined earlier.

So the team definitely will be looking to bring in another backstop to start the 2023 season along with Ali Sánchez. The early thought is to bring back Roberto Perez.  Other notable options on the free agent market are Omar Narváez, Christian Vasquez, Tucker Barnhart, Austin Hedges, and Gary Sanchez.