Pirates' first offseason signing rumor gets debunked in fittingly lame twist

For a few hours, it looked like the Pittsburgh Pirates had made their first move of the offseason. Somehow, the truth was even less exciting.

A transactions log initially indicated that the Pirates had signed right-handed pitcher José Urquidy to a minor league contract on Oct. 1 and assigned him to Triple-A Indianapolis the following day. The supposed move would have brought back a pitcher Pittsburgh already signed, discarded and traded away during the 2026 season.

Then the report was debunked. Urquidy had not actually re-signed with the Pirates, meaning Pittsburgh's first offseason transaction wasn't an uninspiring depth addition after all. It simply hadn't happened.

That probably shouldn't be as funny as it is.

The original move at least made some baseball sense. Urquidy has seven seasons of major-league experience, previously worked with Pirates pitching coach Bill Murphy while both were in the Houston Astros organization and could have provided starting-pitching depth on a minor-league deal. It just wasn't remotely the kind of move anyone was waiting for.

Urquidy originally joined Pittsburgh last offseason on a one-year, $1.5 million deal but barely contributed at the major-league level. The Pirates eventually designated him for assignment and traded him to the Chicago White Sox. He later landed with the Philadelphia Phillies, making the idea of Pittsburgh circling back only a few months later feel like an appropriately Pirates way to open another critical winter.

Instead, even that modest reunion was apparently too much excitement. And that's what makes this entire saga so fitting.

Pirates somehow made their nonexistent first offseason move even less exciting

The Pirates are entering an offseason in which their actions actually matter. They finally snapped their streak of losing seasons by finishing 82-80 in 2026, but they still missed the playoffs. The expectation now should be to improve a roster that showed it was close enough to contention to make another year of bargain-bin roster construction unacceptable.

Brandon Lowe's free agency alone creates one of the biggest decisions the organization has faced in years. The lineup still needs more impact offense. The rotation could use additional depth after injuries forced Pittsburgh into regular bullpen games down the stretch. Those are the moves Pirates fans are waiting to see.

Instead, the first transaction associated with Pittsburgh this offseason was a minor-league reunion with a pitcher the club already decided it could live without — and even that turned out to be the product of an incorrect transactions log.

There is obviously no real damage here. The Pirates didn't make a bad signing. They didn't lose anything. They didn't even do anything. That's almost the problem.

After an 82-win season that should raise expectations for 2027, Pittsburgh's offseason opened with several hours of fans debating the merits of a José Urquidy minor league deal that never existed. It would be difficult to script a less inspiring beginning.

Now the Pirates can try again. Hopefully, their actual first move gives everyone a little more to talk about.

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