This has been a pretty eventful offseason so far for the Pittsburgh Pirates but with many big name free agents still on the market the Pirates are positioned to be a team that can snag one more player before the season starts.
Now that we are in February the market for a lot of these free agents are starting to collapse. You could also see prices drop for some of these players and that is where the Bucs could make their move.
General manager Ben Cherington has said he wants to do short-term commitments, mid-tier dollars, real upside acquisitions. He does not want to be splashy or reckless. Here are a couple of names that represent opportunities that don’t come along often for a franchise that rarely spends a lot of money.
The Pirates’ biggest roster hole remains painfully obvious: right-handed power, particularly at third base.
But another piece that would make the offense a whole lot scarier is 35 year old Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna was linked to Pittsburgh in December, but nothing came from that. He is a proven bat and an older veteran player so it shouldn’t be an expensive move especially if he is signed to a short term deal. He hit 21 homers last year and has 100 total dingers his last three seasons combined.
There are also still plenty of pitchers that the Pirates can target for pretty cheap. Relief pitchers like Daniel Coulombe, Scott Barlow and Justin Wilson could also bring much needed depth to the bullpen. While none of those pitchers would be absolute game changers, they would all still make a really good impact on the team.
Lastly Jose Quintana who was with the Pirates for the 2022 season would be a good fit added to the starting pitching rotation. Quintana just finished last season with the Milwaukee Brewers where he had a 11-7 record and a 3.96 ERA.
Pittsburgh needs innings and some more stability alongside starting pitchers like Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Jared Jones. They could sign him to a relatively expensive one year deal and have him be the fourth or fifth pitcher in the rotation and that would make the Pirates one of the deeper starting pitching rotations in the league.
These are all players the Pirates could still target as we get later and later into free agency. With a lot of their markets closing up too, the prices for them could be cheaper than it was in the beginning of free agency.