Pittsburgh Pirates: Attempting to Construct a Realistic Off-Season

Conclusion

Ignoring any minor league signings, Rule 5 picks, or small-time signings who make the Opening Day roster, this off-season plan would put the Pirates' spending at $40.5 million. For the smart alecks that think the Pirates would never spend anything close to this much, just look at how much they spent in the 2022-2023 off-season. Rich Hill and Carlos Santana alone combined for nearly $15 million. Once you add in Vince Velasquez, Austin Hedges, Jarlin Garcia, and Cutch, you'll see that they weren't all that shy in free agency.

I don't think this is really out of the realm of possibility. They spent nearly $40 million last off-season. Why wouldn't they spend around the same amount again, if not increase it slightly? If the Pirates followed my plan and spent $40.5 million, it would be about a $3.3 million increase in acquisition spending from last off-season.

Look at it like this: this plan would have the Pirates spending $5 million on a designated hitter, $27 million on starting pitching, and $8.5 million on infield help. That should be more than enough money allocation for the Pirates to reinforce and patch the largest holes in their current line-up. I don't see how one could possibly call this unrealistic.