Pirates' top offseason addition heads into spring training with worrisome injury

Heading into spring training, a lot of eyes were on Spencer Horwitz, the biggest addition to the team this offseason at first base, who came over from a big trade with the Guardians during the Winter Meetings. Unfortunately, the Pirates will not be able to get a first look of newly acquired first baseman anytime soon, as he is currently out with a wrist injury.

Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported the injury Tuesday evening, adding that Horwitz will miss time this spring. While Hiles did not initially note how behind Horwitz is, or whether he'll miss regular season time, the first baseman did get surgery this offseason and arrived in Bradenton in a cast.

Of course, the Pirates followed up themselves on Wednesday morning with a whopper: Horwitz is expected to miss 6-to-8 weeks, all told.

Hiles noted that the Pirates will look internally for a replacement, which signals that they do not expect him to be out beyond that time frame (or that they do not have the budgetary wiggle room to properly replace his production on the open market).

There are not a lot of options at first base within the organization, but there a few that stand out as possibilities to experiment with this spring.

With Spencer Horwitz out with a wrist injury, the Pirates need to find a first baseman internally for the time being.

Billy Cook is a quick option, as he played stellar defense in his short stint in Pittsburgh last season. He was a sneaky pickup at the deadline, and could make a big impact in 2025 if he keeps developing at the plate. His three homers in 16 games were impressive, and if he can bring power and defense to the lineup, welcome aboard!

Another is Darick Hall, a minor-league free agent addition that was invited to spring training. Hall has not had a lot of success in the majors, but brings a lot of pop from the left-handed box. In 2022, Hall put together a 121 wRC+ with 10 home runs with the Phillies. Nothing went well after that season, leading to him finding a spot with the Pirates, so maybe he gets a shot with a solid spring.

Lastly is Bryan Reynolds, who took groundballs at first base last season in pregame practices, but never got any game action. There has been a bit of conversation about him playing first base, given his league-worst glove in left field, so maybe the Pirates try that out and give his left field spot to Cook (or another outfielder that has a productive spring).

There are options to help the Pirates get by, but this injury is not good news at all.