Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Things That Must Be Accomplished This Off-Season

The Pittsburgh Pirates have multiple goals they should look to achieve this off-season, but these three should be at the very top of the priority list

This upcoming off-season is going to be a big one for both the Pittsburgh Pirates’ and general manager Ben Cherington. This is almost a penultimate off-season for his tenure as the team's GM, and will likely shape the rest of his time spent in Pittsburgh. Like every team, there are things that he must do this off-season.

Today, I want to share what I find the most important things the Pirates and Cherington must accomplish this winter. This list is in order of priority from most important to least important, though don’t take that as not important. Everything here is something that the front office absolutely needs to consider, at the very least. With that out of the way, let’s get into priority number one.

Find Two Starting Pitchers

The Pirates basically ran the last 60-65 games with just Mitch Keller, Johan Oviedo, and a bunch of openers, long relief guys, and bulk pitchers filling in the last three rotation spots. Sure, they played slightly above .500, but both the longevity and stability of that strategy is not good. Acquiring starting pitching isn’t just a must, it should be a given. But they need to get more than just one SP. Two starters should be the minimum going into this off-season.

The free agent market has its options. Jordan Montgomery is at the top of my list. The lefty was great for both the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers, pitching to a 3.20 ERA, 3.56 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP in 188.2 innings. Aside from Montgomery, the likes of Kenta Maeda, Frankie Montas, Hyun Jin Ryu, Mike Clevinger, and Michael Lorenzen should also be on the Pirates’ radar.

The trade market has yet to fully develop, but there is some players you could preview being on the trading block. Two come from the San Diego Padres, that being Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez. The Padres are looking to cut salary, and assuming the Padres don’t decline either’s option, they will surely listen to offers on both of them. The Miami Marlins may listen to offers on some of their young pitchers as well to get some middle infield help, something the Pirates have an overabundance of. Other veterans like Kyle Freeland, Alex Cobb, Dylan Cease, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning, and Paul Blackburn may also be listed as potential trade options.

There are two Japanese pitchers that will certainly get attention. That’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga. The right-handed Yamamoto is a superstar pitcher in Japan, while the left-handed Imanaga has been highly effective in Japan. Both will need to be posted, but the Pirates have hinted at being aggressive in the international market this year.

One starting pitcher is not enough. With two, that means the Pirates can go into Spring Training with four spots filled, and the fifth rotation spot as a competition between Bailey Falter, Quinn Priester, Roansy Contreras, Luis Ortiz, Jackson Wolf, or Andre Jackson. Having only one of those arms, instead of two fill the rotation gives you much more confidence going into next season.

I also believe the prospects, like Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler, or Thomas Harrington could help fix any rotation woes later in the year. Plus the Pirates will see the return of both JT Brubaker and Mike Burrows about mid-way through the season. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that two starting pitchers is pretty much a must.

Find A First Baseman

First base was also a massive need last off-season when the Pirates ended their 2022 campaign with Zack Collins and Diego Castillo atop their first base depth chart. The first base depth chart isn’t quite as bad as it was 365 days ago, with Connor Joe and Alfonso Rivas at the top now, but it still is nowhere near good enough.

The free agent market is fairly thin at first base. Rhys Hoskins is coming off ACL surgery, but was both a consistent and strong presence in the line-up from 2017 to 2022. Former Pirates’ first basemen Carlos Santana and Josh Bell may also be potential targets. Santana, however, is going into his age-38 campaign, and Bell had a horrible first half in Cleveland before heating up with the Miami Marlins in the second half. Donovan Solano would certainly be an unconventional first base option, as he’s more of a contact focused hitter, but a decent one at that.

There are a handful of other veteran platoon options out on the free agent market. Brandon Belt, Garrett Cooper, Ji-Man Choi, and C.J. Cron. None of these options are terrible, but will likely require a platoon partner, as they’re best suited to face opposite-handed pitching most of the time.

The trade market is even shallower. The Chicago White Sox may potentially listen to offers regarding former first round pick Andrew Vaughn. Vaughn may only be a slightly above league average batter over the last two seasons, but 2024 will only mark his age-26 season, and it wasn’t all that long ago he was considered a premier prospect in baseball.

One extremely bold option would be Pete Alonso of the New York Mets. This is far from a guarantee that the Mets will even consider trading Alonso, and it would probably take a fairly big prospect package to get him. Alonso is coming off a year where he hit .217/.318/.504 with 46 dingers, and a 121 wRC+. I’d bet that his batting average and OBP rebound next season. He still does not strike out all that much, and his BABIP dropped from .277 the last two years to .205 this season. I am not saying he is a realistic option, but one that wouldn’t be all that surprising if the Mets were to listen to offers involving the Polar Bear.

Another bold option would be division rival first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. After taking home National League MVP in 2022, Goldy followed that up with a fairly disappointing, but still overall still solid 2023. In 687 plate appearances, Goldschmidt batted .268/.363/.447 with 25 homers and a 122 wRC+. Even though this was a down year for Goldschmidt’s lofty standards, some bad luck is to blame as his BABIP fell 20 points under his career average, and xwOBA projected him as a slightly better hitter. This one might have slightly more traction that Alonso, but still a far cry from even unlikely.

The rest of the first base trade market involves a handful of other options who may or may not be available, such as Seth Brown, Ty France, Vinnie Pasquantino, Nick Pratto, and Josh Naylor. For most of these guys, it’s far from a guarantee that they will be on the market. However, it also shouldn’t be all that surprising either if they are moved or at least involved in trade rumors.

Regardless of how the first base hole is filled, it needs to be filled in a meaningful way. Unlike pitching, there isn’t a plethora of potential prospects who could fill this void. However, I see this as slightly less of a priority than pitching because while it’s far from a good duo, Joe/Rivas could at least get it done until they found another, more regular/permanent option. Filling in the two rotation spots, rather than just one with Priester, Contreras, Jackson, Falter, or Ortiz is worse than platooning Joe/Rivas, in my opinion.