DSL Pirates
David vs. Goliath; Pirates Adopting Mindset Amidst Dodgers Spending Spree

PITTSBURGH — The way the Los Angeles Dodgers have operated this offseason has been hard to ignore, especially for an organization like the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A year after signing Shohei Ohtani to a since-broken $700 million record-setting contract, the Dodgers continue to dip into their seemingly endless supply of economic funds.
So far this offseason, the Dodgers signed Blake Snell for $182 million, Teoscar Hernández for $66 million, Blake Treinen for $22 million and Michael Conforto for $17 million. On Sunday, it was reported by MLB.com that the Dodgers are signing relief ace Tanner Scott for $72 million.
They’ve also dipped into the international market to land infielder Hyeseong Kim and prized starting pitcher Roki Sasaki. Plus, there was a long-term extension for Tommy Edman.
Even after winning the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees, the Dodgers have been as aggressive as ever in an offseason that should result in an improved team that already won 98 games in the regular season last year.
For the Pirates and other smaller-market teams in similar situations, the idea of competing against teams like the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees is a daunting task. But the 2025 Pirates won’t be making any excuses.
“With a team like that, you know it’s a David vs. Goliath-type thing. But David did beat Goliath if I’m not mistaken,” Andrew McCutchen said at PiratesFest over the weekend. “We just gotta be like David and that’s the way I’m looking at it.”
There’s no debating how talented the Dodgers’ roster is. Three MVP winners make up the top three spots in the lineup in Ohtani Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Their starting rotation consists of five guys who have elite-level stuff. The bullpen, especially with the addition of Scott, is pretty darn good too.
For the Pirates to have any shot against a team like the Dodgers, they must play clean baseball. During their prolonged struggles from season to season, that has not always been easy to do.
But the Pirates will need to get better fundamentally. This includes utilizing the fading art of small-ball.
“We’re not gonna out-slug them,” McCutchen explained. “But if you do the fundamental things right, baseball is such a fundamentally sound game and if you do those things right, a lot of times you put yourself in position to win the game.”
The moves from the Dodgers this winter have elevated debates about Major League Baseball implementing a salary cap in hopes of at least leveling the playing field a little bit.
But no such change would come to baseball immediately and might not even happen when the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season.
Players, understandably, have fought a salary cap. And no cap will come without a salary floor, which raises other issues.
Regardless of what any change might look like, the league has to address the drastic disparity in spending. The field will never be exactly even. It won’t get to the point to how it is in other sports, like the NFL team where any team can keep their quarterback long-term or in the NBA where any of the 30 teams can sign a player to a max contract.
A floor could force the Pirates’ hand to spend how the A’s are this offseason to avoid a grievance. But still, the Ohtani’s and Juan Soto’s of the world won’t be walking through the clubhouse doors at PNC Park, at least not the home clubhouse.
But until any change is made — or even after any hypothetical — the Pirates will need to adopt McCutchen’s David vs. Goliath mentality.
“The funny thing about baseball is that you can have the best team on paper,” he said. “You can (be facing) the highest payroll and you can still go in and beat the team.”