We can all agree that the 2024 season was a disappointment for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Coming off a 2023 season that saw them go 76-86, the Pirates were rolling into last season with a healthy Oneil Cruz, a much-improved bullpen — on paper, anyway — and young stars filling out their starting rotation.
The 2024 season was a rollercoaster — one that saw the Pirates believe they were closer than they really were when they bought at the trade deadline, bringing in three pieces and parting with a fair share of assets to do so.
But for all that excitement, the end result was the same. Despite their rotation getting a serious boost by NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes, the Pirates finished at 76-86, the exact same record they had in 2023.
Now, with one year down and the clock on Skenes’ rookie contract already ticking, the urgency surrounding this team and its fanbase is at its highest in a long, long time.
That’s why this offseason was so crucial for the Pirates and general manager Ben Cherington.
You could call it a swing and a miss, but that would imply that the Pirates actually got out there and swung in free agency, which vastly overstates the front office’s work this winter.
While the Pirates would never contend for the Juan Soto sweepstakes, that was not an excuse for the club to remain inactive. The Pirates have spent under $10 million in free agency, ranking 22nd in the league in offseason spending this year.
More than half of that money was allocated to re-signing Andrew McCutchen for one more year, with lefty Caleb Ferguson marking the only non-extension the Pirates have handed a major league contract to.
Their usual excuses as a small market team have gone out the window. While they don’t have the power the Los Angeles Dodgers have, the Pirates were left in the dust by even their small market counterparts. The Pirates were outspent nearly 10 times by the Athletics, who have no legal city name and are playing in a Minor League ballpark until 2028.
The Pirates, meanwhile, made their most aggressive offer of the winter to an 11-year-old from Los Angeles in an effort to acquire a Skenes rookie card.
For the ninth offseason in a row, the team did not sign any player to a multi-year deal in free agency, and reports indicate that the Pirates have no plans to do so in the weeks leading up to spring training.
The Pirates have relied on the trade market to build a sizable amount of their roster. Some of their best hitters — Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz among them — started their development in other organizations before the Pirates acquired them in trades.
In an area where the Pirates must thrive to succeed, they underwhelmed once again.
Cherington’s big move during the winter was acquiring first baseman Spencer Horwitz, who slashed .265/.357/.433 with 12 home runs and 40 RBI in 97 games for the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Pirates paid handsomely for Horwitz, sending reliable starter Luis Ortiz and two top-25 lefty pitching prospects to Cleveland just hours after the Guardians acquired Horwitz in a separate trade.
Though Horwitz fills a dire position of need for the Pirates — one that the club has spent the last several years plugging journeymen, rentals and minor leaguers at — and is under cheap team control for several years, bringing in a 27-year-old who has less than 120 major league games to his name as your substantial offseason move is a pretty damning sign for the Pirates.
That is especially true when you consider some of the other gaps in the roster. At right field, the Pirates desperately needed to add someone to complement an outfield that has Reynolds in left and Cruz at center.
The team thought it figured out that position at the deadline when they traded for Bryan De La Cruz to fill in that spot. But De La Cruz provided some of the worst defense in all of baseball at right field, and underwhelmed in the batting department as well, leading to the Pirates ultimately letting him walk.
As the roster currently stands, Joshua Palacios is penciled in as the team’s Opening Day right fielder. Keeping Palacios around as a bench player is one thing — the Brooklyn native does have more highlights than your typical AAAA player, and his energy makes him a fan favorite, but having a career .230 batter at age 29 as your primary option in right field cannot happen for a team that needs to take several massive steps forward.
There are internal options to overtake Palacios at the position. Nick Yorke and Billy Cook are two MLB-ready prospects the Pirates acquired at the trade deadline last year to help stock up their batting cupboard. Both could force their way into the everyday lineup and earn reps at right field.
Yorke and Cook have outfield experience in the minor leagues and are expected to push for major league jobs in spring training. But this far into a rebuild, the Pirates should have a more steady plan at that position.
It’s certainly possible that one of Yorke or Cook provides a boost, or that someone else rises to prominence and takes over, but winging it is not the approach the Pirates should take for a team with this much young talent. It’s far too much hoping and praying for a team that needs to contend now.
Every year the Pirates have Paul Skenes is a gift. Every year they have him under cheap team control is even more of a gift.
When you have a generational talent like him on the roster, you have to maximize that chance each and every time.
The time to win is right now. There is no more time for the Pirates to punt on offseasons and just hope for the best.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what this offseason was.