Pirates have opportunity to make free agency splash and profit off of it

The Pittsburgh Pirates need offense. They crave profits. Typically, these two facts are in conflict, with the latter winning out. But what if there were a way to both drastically improve a lineup that was historically bad, while simultaneously opening up a new, and very lucrative, revenue stream?

If that sounds like something both disgruntled fans and reviled owner Bob Nutting can both get behind, you'd be right. At the microscopic center of that Venn diagram stands one player who would satisfy both the beleaguered fans of the Buccos and their stingy owner.

The player in question is Japanese import Kazuma Okamoto, who, after some uncertainty, will be posted by the NPB's Yomiuri Giants this winter.

Signing Kazuma Okamoto could be the rare win-win between Pirates fans and owner Bob Nutting

Okamoto hasn't received quite as much fanfare as his younger countryman, Munetaka Murakami, who will also be posted this winter, but there's a more than decent shot that the elder player is actually the better one.

A prodigious slugger in Japan, Okamoto authored six straight 30-plus home run seasons from 2018-2023, before hitting 27 in 2024, and 15 in 2025 while being limited to just 69 games. All the while, his strikeout rates decline from a high of 21% in 2019 down to 11.3% in 2025.

With that, Okamoto brings positional versatility. First base might be his best position, though he has extensive experience at third base, where he played the majority of the time in 2025. Left field is also a part of his repertoire. The Pirates need help everywhere, but that versatility would allow them to search for bargains at any spot on the diamond, knowing they could move him around as needed.

The Athletic's Jim Bowden predicts a four-year, $90 million contract for Okamoto, which dwarfs Francisco Liriano's record as the club's highest-paid free-agent acquisition at three years and $39 million, but comes in lower than Bryan Reynolds' eight-year, $106.75 million extension.

So that's what's in it for the fans, but what about Nutting? Well, the Pirates have little footprint outside of the Pittsburgh area and have never really tapped into the baseball hotbed that is Japan. $90 million might be more than he wants to spend, by a decent margin, but we've seen teams that invest heavily in the Asian market rewarded with some serious profits.

The most notable example is the Los Angeles Dodgers, who earned back the entirety of Shohei Ohtani's massive $700 million contract in his first year with the club.

Okamoto isn't Ohtani, but he is a highly decorated NPB player who plays for the league's most high-profile team, and has a trophy case that includes six NPB All-Star selections, three home run titles, three Golden Gloves, and several other accolades.

It's a stretch, but signing Okamoto would not only give the lineup a substantial boost, but would open the floodgates to a lot of foreign money, in addition to a revitalized fan base.

So whattaya say, Bob? Scared money don't make money, after all.