Brandon Lowe mega-trade is Ben Cherington's best use of Pirates' resources yet

For years –– decades, even –– Pittsburgh Pirates fans have been told to be patient. Be smart. Trust the process. Hoard pitching. Wait for the “right time.”

Well, guess what? This is what the right time looks like.

Friday's three-team trade with the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays is the most decisive, coherent, and purposeful use of Ben Cherington’s resources since he took over baseball operations in Pittsburgh — and it’s not particularly close.

This wasn’t a depth move. It wasn’t a lottery ticket. It wasn’t another “maybe in three years” prospect swap that asks fans to suspend disbelief. This was a front office identifying a glaring weakness, recognizing a market inefficiency, and actually doing something about it.

The Pirates needed offense. Badly. Not vibes. Not “internal improvement.” Not spring training optimism. Actual, real, middle-of-the-order production.

They got it in the form of Brandon Lowe.

Brandon Lowe gives Pirates the second base thump they've missed

Lowe is a two-time All-Star who just hit 31 home runs and posted an .800+ OPS in Tampa Bay. He’s a proven left-handed power bat joining a lineup that ranked near the bottom of baseball in runs and homers, and he’s doing it while walking into one of the most inviting right-field power alleys in the National League. The Clemente Wall didn’t get shorter — Lowe just got stronger.

And here’s the part Pirates fans should really appreciate: this is exactly how you’re supposed to spend when you’re a mid-market team.

Lowe costs $11.5 million. One year. No long-term risk. No albatross contract. No CBT gymnastics. Just a clean, targeted investment that aligns perfectly with the team’s competitive window — the Paul Skenes window.

That matters, because hoarding pitching without supporting it is how you waste generational arms. Cherington finally acknowledged the obvious: if you’re going to have the reigning NL Cy Young winner on your roster, you owe it to him to field a lineup that can score more than two runs a night.

And the cost? Mike Burrows. A solid arm. A useful piece. But also someone the Pirates could afford to move given their pitching depth and incoming wave of arms. This is the exact type of surplus-to-need trade fans have been begging for — and for once, the Pirates didn’t blink.

Even better? This wasn’t reckless. It was efficient. The Pirates added Lowe. They added Mason Montgomery. They added Jake Mangum. They did it without touching the top tier of their farm system. They did it without mortgaging the future. They did it without pretending prospects alone were going to fix a historically bad offense.

For the first time in a long time, the Pirates didn’t act like a team afraid of its own shadow. This trade sends a message — not just to fans, but to the clubhouse. It tells Skenes and the rest of the core that this front office understands the urgency of the moment and that 2026 isn’t a theoretical year on a spreadsheet. It’s real. It’s now.

After six long years, Cherington finally proved he knows when to strike. And for Pirates fans who have been starving for proof that this rebuild had a point — this might be the clearest one yet.