Pirates make free agent splash fans have been begging for with 2025 All-Star

Cherington cooked.
Arizona Diamondbacks v San Diego Padres
Arizona Diamondbacks v San Diego Padres | Meg McLaughlin/GettyImages

Ben Cherington shocked Pirates fans when he pulled off a three-team trade with the Rays and Astros that only required Pittsburgh to give up a single player, pitcher Mike Burrows to the Astros, while acquiring three: Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, and Mason Montgomery. It was the first time in a long time that fans have just had to tip their caps to Cherington, with the caveat that there had better be more on the way.

And there was. On Tuesday, FanSided insider Robert Murray reported that the Pirates were signing first baseman Ryan O'Hearn to a two-year, $29 million deal with $500,000 in incentives. O'Hearn was an American League All-Star starter in 2025 (his first career nod) and the only representative from the Orioles before he was traded to the Padres alongside Ramón Laureano at the deadline.

A $14.5 million AAV is certainly not an insignificant amount of money to get an eight-year veteran with a lot of pop to Pittsburgh. After either exiting Munetaka Murakami's market quietly or losing out on him to the White Sox, the Pirates have found the hard-hitting first baseman they needed.

Pirates sign Ryan O'Hearn to a two-year deal on the heels of huge three-way trade

If the Pirates' track record this offseason is any indication — Kyle Schwarber, Josh Naylor, Murakami — they've been actively looking to add a significant amount of slug to a team that finished dead-last in slugging in 2025. O'Hearn has posted well above-average power in three straight seasons — 122 OPS+ in 2023, 119 in 2024, and 125 in 2025. His .803 OPS was a career high, bolstered in large part by a fantastic .366 OBP.

He registered most of his innings as a first baseman, a position that Spencer Horwitz more or less has wrapped up, but O'Hearn did play better defense there in 2025. However, it would be easy enough to swap either between first and DH — O'Hearn started 47 games at DH between the Orioles and Padres and would be the perfect bat for the Pirates to slide into the heart of the order.

O'Hearn and Lowe could add over 40 homers to the Pirates' total all by themselves in 2026, and O'Hearn offers incredibly consistent bat-to-ball skills and a well above average walk rate.

A real signing worth real money: this is exactly what Pirates fans have been asking for this offseason.

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