Sunday’s Pirates game perfectly summarized why their offseason was a total failure

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a lot of frustratingly close games this year, ruined by poor hitting. However, none arguably come even close to Sunday’s performance during the finale against the Philadelphia Phillies. Despite Paul Skenes pitching all eight innings, allowing just one earned run and striking out nine, the Pirates ended up losing 1-0. They out-hit the Phillies, too, with six hits compared to the Phillies’ three.

But this horrific display of offense could have been seen miles away, just based on what the Pirates did (or didn’t do) during last offseason. Aside from re-signing Andrew McCutchen, the only worthwhile addition they made was acquiring Spencer Horwitz. Somehow, their free agent signings for the lineup overshadowed any positive addition Horwitz could make. They brought in Adam Frazier, a veteran who has had an 81 wRC+ since the Pirates traded him at the 2021 trade deadline, and Tommy Pham, a 37-year-old outfielder who had the lowest fWAR during any season of his career since becoming a full-time regular in 2017 (not including 2020).

These were the additions for a team with a generationally good starting pitcher in Skenes, along with a handful of other talented starters, a solid bullpen, and more promising pitching prospects in the system on the verge of making an impact in the Major Leagues made. The Pirates ranked bottom five in OPS, wOBA, and wRC+ in 2024, and their solution when it came to exploring the free agent market was Tommy Pham and Adam Frazier.

Pirates' offseason looks even worse in hindsight, with failures on display in Sunday's game

The lack of additions doesn’t just impact the players who are hitting poorly; it affects everyone. What reason is there to challenge any of the good hitters, like Horwitz, Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, Joey Bart, or Andrew McCutchen, when there are gaping holes in the lineup? Sure, Ke’Bryan Hayes is hitting the ball hard again, but again, why even challenge him and give him a pitch to hit? Alexander Canario can sure swing the bat faster than nearly any other player in the league. Still, with how often he swings and misses, it can be easy for a good pitcher to get him to whiff. Pitchers who can’t do that can just work around him and move on to a lighter hitter in the lineup, because chances are a mistake pitch to Canario has a higher chance of going for extra bases compared to Pham, Frazier, or Jared Triolo.

The only defensible thing you can say is the Pirates have had some things happen this season they couldn’t have anticipated. Who expected Nick Gonzales hitting a home run in the first game of the year, then suffering an ankle fracture while rounding the bases? Nobody predicted Reynolds would get off to such a poor start. Horwitz just returned from what was originally going to be just a 6-to-8 week stint on the IL, which was originally diagnosed in late February. Another promising bat in Enmanuel Valdez hitting the 60-day IL was also likely not on anyone’s bingo card.

But it’s pure negligence if the Pirates didn’t expect Frazier to struggle. The utility man has been a well below-average hitter since they initially dealt him at the ‘21 deadline. It’s also negligence if they expected Pham to rebound from a poor 2024 in his late 30s. Relying on Jack Suwinski to rebound so quickly from a horrible 2024 was also a poor choice, to say the least. 

It's also negligent to put all the responsibility on new hitting coaches like Matt Hague and Daniel Vogelbach to make the offense better. Sure, they may be upgrades over what the Pirates had last year with Andy Haines. Isiah Kiner-Falefa rebounding, Canario not looking completley horrible after getting more playing time, and Cruz taking a big leap forward in plate discipline are proof. But Frazier nor Pham don't even have close to the potential that Rowdy Tellez had last year, and there's nothing neither Hague nor Vogelbach could have done to make them better.

The Pirates essentially built a lineup that was only going to be good if it played to its 90th percentile potential or better, which just adds onto the frustration Pirates fans are feeling. That means no extended slumps and no key players missing an extended amount of time, things that every single team in baseball goes through at some point during an entire 162-game season. The Pirates built a lineup with no depth and zero room for error, which leads to games like Sunday’s outing. Games like this are the outcome of not investing in a core with a lot of promise, and a pitching staff that can out-duel nearly any other team, but has little to no offense backing it.