Pirates may cop out of first base pursuit with undesirable in-house solution

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a first base problem for, well, years. The position has featured a rotating cast of rather forgettable characters, most recently in the form of a Rowdy Tellez-Connor Joe platoon in 2024.

Tellez and Joe are both gone now, and Pittsburgh doesn't have a true everyday first baseman on its roster for 2025. Dare we hope that this might be the year the Pirates make a splash and land a real solution to their first base problem with a major trade or free agent signing?

In a recent column for The Athletic (subscription required), MLB insider Ken Rosenthal noted that free agent first baseman Christian Walker, a Norristown, Pa., native, would be an ideal fit for a Pirates team looking for a boost on offense. But the problem for Pittsburgh, as Rosenthal points out, is that Walker is an ideal fit for a lot of teams. The idea of the Pirates winning a bidding war in today's free agency landscape, he wrote, is "almost laughable."

(He can remove the "almost;" it's laughable. Full stop.)

Pirates may cop out of first base pursuit with undesirable in-house solution

Alas, the Walker fit sounds too good to be true because it most likely is. In fact, Rosenthal dropped another hint about the Pirates' actual plan for first base in 2025.

"The Pirates began working out Bryan Reynolds at first in late September," he wrote, "And expect him to play the position at least part-time in 2025."

When the reports first emerged last season that Reynolds was taking practice reps at first base, Pittsburgh's All-Star left fielder remained noncommittal about a potential position change, seeming to brush off any speculation by claiming that he was simply working on sharpening various defensive skills to improve his all-around game. But Rosenthal's report seems to suggest that the initial speculation about an impending position change for Reynolds may have been correct.

Reynolds led the Pirates in nearly every offensive category last season, so moving him to first base doesn't add any thump to the lineup unless the club plans to go out and sign another corner outfielder with an impact bat. Not to mention, there's no guarantee that Reynolds will pan out defensively at first base, a position he hasn't played since he was in college.

Then again, such a move would be incredibly on-brand for the Pirates; it would allow them to avoid spending additional money while doing the bare minimum to fill every position on the field. If this is any indication of what's to come, Pirates fans shouldn't get their hopes up about their team breaking any of their disappointing trends this offseason.

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