A way-too-early Pittsburgh Pirates free agent wishlist for 2024-25 offseason

The 2024 season is nearing its end. While there is still an entire postseason left to play, it’s never too early to start thinking about offseason plans. The Pittsburgh Pirates should try to get ahead of the curve and start looking at holes on the roster that need to be patched and other areas that could be reinforced.

While they probably will not go big in free agency, there are plenty of free agents in the mid-tier range that are within the Pirates’ budget that they should chase.

Note that we are only looking at free agents here. The Pirates can and should use their vast amount of pitching talent to acquire some players via trade. But, based only on free agency, this is who the Pirates should go after. This is also not factoring in any minor league or non-guaranteed signings, as well as trying to stay relatively realistic within the parameters everyone knows the team will restrict themselves to.

Carlos Santana

The Pittsburgh Pirates need a first baseman. They could bring Rowdy Tellez back into the fold, but another former friend who would be an even better fit is Carlos Santana. The veteran is a useful switch-hitter, but what’s even more promising is that despite his advancing age, his numbers under the hood have rebounded.

The veteran 1B has slashed .243/.329/.432 with a .330 wOBA and 116 wRC+ through 547 plate appearances for the Minnesota Twins. Although Santana saw his walk rate dwindle again to a career-low 10.4% rate, he's still only struck out 17% of the time this season. Santana currently has 23 home runs, the ninth time he has hit 20+ in a season in his career.

Santana posted a career-low 6.7% barrel rate last season, but has seen that rebound back to 7.2% this year (7.6% is his career average). Santana also wasn’t a huge overperformer, either. He has a .325 xwOBA, which is in the 56th percentile of batters this season. That is also a huge improvement over the career-low .308 xwOBA he put up in 2023. 

Santana is probably in line to win the Gold Glove at first base in the American League. He has +7 defensive runs saved at first with +13 outs above average. This is just the eighth time in the Statcast era a first baseman has put up double-digit OAA, and four of those times have come from Christian Walker.

Now, Santana does have large platoon splits. He has a 163 wRC+ when facing a lefty, but a 98 wRC+ when facing a righty, but a 98 wRC+ isn’t unplayable. Signing Santana would nearly eliminate the undoubted need for a platoon at first base. Santana has posted good numbers this year with Minnesota while playing a regular role. But, in the event the Pirates feel like they do need a platoon option, they could acquire a 1B who does crush righties via trade, like Seth Brown or Gavin Sheets.