Pirates Q&A: Free Agency Talk, A Potential Lineup for ’26
Welcome back to another edition of our Pittsburgh Pirates Q&A. Let’s get to your questions.
Why on earth did they bring Suwinski back!? – Scott Kutschbach
I addressed this last week. You can read the full explanation here.
In short, it’s essentially a no-risk move for the Pirates and it doesn’t mean Suwinski will be part of the Opening Day roster. If he has a great spring and looks more like the player he was in 2023, they get a power threat for $1.25 million. If he continues to struggle, it’s not a significant salary and the Pirates can remove him from the roster and send him to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Do you think the Pirates understand that they will have to overpay FAs to come to Pittsburgh? Nats had to do it years ago with Werth. There is a price to be paid for being a perennial basement dweller. If they want to maximize the time they have left with Skenes, they better overpay now. – Ed Sheahin
I think they realize it. I think it’s part of the reason the Pirates have only signed modest one-year deals under Cherington. They have tried, at times. I have it on good authority they’ve tried to sign several players to multi-year contracts (within reason), but they didn’t want to cross certain thresholds.
But free agency is a bidding war. If the Pirates do truly want to sign someone who could make a real impact, they are going to have to break that mindset. The early indications are that they are being more aggressive than normal. But will that aggressiveness turn into meaningful deals? That remains to be seen.
What percentage chance do you see them adding multiple multi year free agent hitters? What setup men should we be targeting? Could we possibly trade Suwinski and Yohan Ramirez for a couple of Smiley cookies at Eat N’ Park? Obviously only sort of in jest since they inexplicably signed both of them. – Mike Stegman Jr.
A 3-for-1! Let’s tackle each individual.
I’m skeptical the Pirates will sign multiple free agent hitters to multi-year deals. Maybe 25%? They haven’t done it since Russell Martin in the 2012-13 offseason, so getting two in one winter? That seems unlikely. But I think the Pirates will likely sign one to a multi-year deal and they’ll add at least one or two more beyond that. Either on a one-year deal or through a trade, and trading for a bat could be their best chance of landing on impact one.
I looked at some possible closer/setup types a little while ago. I’ll link the article here. A couple names to consider — Pete Fairbanks, Kyle Finnegan, Luke Weaver. There are a lot of options though.
The Pirates could trade either player you mentioned if a team is interested, and they should strongly consider any offer that comes their way. A power-desperate or rebuilding team might want to take a chance on Suwinski. There probably won’t be must interest in Ramírez. A bit off topic, but keeping Ramírez for $825,000 over Moreta who will make roughly the same is a head-scratcher for me.
Would you be disappointed if this was the Pirates lineup? 1-LF Ced Mullins (RFA) 2- RF Brian Reynolds 3- 2B Brandon Lowe (Trade) 4- 3B Eugenio Suárez (UFA) 5- CF O’Neil Cruz 6-SS Nick Gonzales 7- 1B Spencer Horowitz/ Paul Goldschmidt (UFA) 8- DH Cutch / Yohan Moncada (UFA) 9- Any catcher we have
I think that’s about as good a lineup as you can expect. Lowe and Suárez represent a dream 1-2 punch the Pirates could build through offseason acquisition. Throw in Mullins, who has had a pretty solid career plus two good platoon additions? Yeah, that’ll work.
But that’s all probably wishful thinking. I’m not sure the Pirates could afford it all. I think Goldschmidt wants to play for a sure winner or return to Arizona and play for the Diamondbacks. But Suárez should absolutely be on the Pirates’ radar. Lowe should be too, despite defensive deficiencies. Mullins and Moncada could be decent fallback/second-tier moves since the Pirates need so much help.
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