3 free agents whose plummeting markets are falling right into the Pirates' lap

Every winter, a handful of free agents watch their markets collapse in real time. Prices drop. Terms shrink. Leverage evaporates.

But when markets fall, smart teams catch. And for once, the Pittsburgh Pirates are positioned to be the team that benefits from that gravity.

This is exactly the lane Ben Cherington has said he wants to live in: short-term commitments, mid-tier dollars, real upside. Not splashy. Not reckless. Just… smart. Here are three names that represent opportunities that don’t come along often for a franchise that lives below the luxury-tax stratosphere.

3 free agents whose plummeting markets are falling right into the Pirates' lap

Eugenio Suárez

The Pirates’ biggest roster hole remains painfully obvious: right-handed power, particularly at third base. Eugenio Suárez checks every box. He’s a proven 30-homer bat. He punishes left-handed pitching. He brings edge, experience and presence to a lineup that often feels too polite.

Earlier in the winter, Suárez was being floated in the two-year, $40-plus million range. That market hasn’t materialized. Teams have pivoted. Money has dried up. The urgency is gone. Now, you’re talking about the kind of contract Pittsburgh can do — shorter term, higher AAV, maybe with an opt-out.

Drop Suárez into the middle of this lineup, and suddenly it starts to really scare opposing pitchers. Suddenly, pitchers can’t just work around the Pirates’ two most dangerous bats. This isn’t about chasing 95 wins. It’s about building a lineup that can survive a bad week without collapsing.

José Quintana

Left-hander José Quintana is a different kind of fit, but just as logical.

The Pirates need innings. They need stability. They need someone who can take the ball every fifth day and prevent a young rotation from being overexposed. Quintana has done exactly that everywhere he’s gone — including Pittsburgh, where he was quietly excellent in 2022.

Quintana isn't flashy. He doesn’t light up radar guns. He just… gets outs. The market has treated him like a placeholder. Teams want younger. Teams want upside. Teams want velocity. Quintana offers none of that — just competence. And that’s why he’s still there. For the Pirates, that’s perfect.

A one-year deal with Quintana protects Paul Skenes and company from having to shoulder too much, too fast. It gives the staff a veteran anchor who knows how to navigate lineups multiple times. It’s boring in the best possible way.

Patrick Corbin

Then there’s Patrick Corbin — the name that will make fans recoil. Yes, his ERA has been ugly. Yes, his velocity is gone. Yes, Washington paid him to be an ace and got a back-end starter instead. But context matters.

Corbin’s peripherals in 2025 were better than his surface stats. His strikeout rate ticked up. His walk rate stabilized. He was asked to be “the guy” on a rebuilding team with no margin for error. That’s not what he would be in Pittsburgh.

For the Pirates, Corbin would be a fifth starter. A project. A low-risk flier. Someone first-year pitching coach Bill Murphy could try to retool the way he has with other veterans. If it fails, you move on. If it works, you’ve bought yourself real value for pennies on the dollar.

And that’s the theme with all three of these players: pennies on the dollar.

The Pirates don’t need to win the offseason. They need to win the margins. None of this requires blowing past payroll comfort zones. None of it blocks the future. All of it makes 2026 more serious, more credible, more aligned with the front office’s stated goal: making the playoffs.