3 areas where the Pirates need to invest this winter

As the Pittsburgh Pirates get set to close out yet another disappointing season, focus will soon shift to preparations for the 2025 campaign.

Looking ahead to next season, the Pirates are in good shape in terms of their starting rotation and ... well ... not much else. There is plenty of room for improvement all around, but there are certain areas where the need is more glaring than others.

With that in mind, let's take a look at three key areas in which the Pirates would be wise to invest their resources during the 2024-25 offseason:

3 areas where the Pirates need to invest this winter

3. The Bullpen

The Pirates have struggled all season to find consistent left-handed relief pitching behind Aroldis Chapman, who is all but guaranteed to be gone next season with the perennially cost-conscious Pirates likely unwilling to offer him even the slight pay raise he has earned. The club acquired southpaw Jalen Beeks from the Colorado Rockies at the trade deadline to help pick up the slack behind Chapman with fellow lefties Daulton Jeffries and Ryan Borucki missing extended time due to injuries, but Beeks will also be a free agent after this season.

Borucki has since returned from the injured list, but Jeffries is still trying to come back from a second Tommy John surgery at age 29, so we probably shouldn't rest too many of our hopes and dreams on him. Pittsburgh did pick up Joey Wentz off waivers from the Detroit Tigers, giving them a lefty who is under team control until 2029; still, the Pirates could certainly stand to benefit from investing in some more left-handed relievers this offseason.

2. First Base

There has been a rotating cast of characters at first base for the Pirates this season, from Rowdy Tellez to Connor Joe to recent call-up Billy Cook. Tellez and Joe have platooned the position for the majority of the season, with the former taking most of the starts against right-handed pitchers and the latter matching up against lefties. Tellez, though, is set to become a free agent after this season, and Joe has been struggling offensively and is better deployed off the bench as a utility player than as an everyday starter.

Unless they plan to re-sign Tellez or make Cook their everyday first baseman (and if they do, they should probably start giving him an extended look there now), the Pirates should prioritize adding a player with more offensive upside at a position where hitting for power is the expectation.

1. Baseball Operations

We could go on for days about areas where the Pirates need to improve, but the reality is that this organization's problems start at the top. General manager Ben Cherington and field manager Derek Shelton have held their respective positions for five years now without a single winning season to show for it.

If the Pirates really want to improve this offseason, their best bet would be an overhaul of the current leadership group (which really begins with owner Bob Nutting, but everyone knows owners can't be fired). As far as we're concerned, Cherington, Shelton and hitting coach Andy Haines should be among the first to pack their bags as soon as the 2024 campaign has ended.

More Pirates content from Rum Bunter