The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed a free agent to a multi-year contract for the first time in nine years.
The Pirates are bringing in former San Diego Padres first baseman Ryan O’Hearn on a two-year, $29 million deal, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Tuesday.
O’Hearn is the first free agent to sign a multi-year deal with the Pirates since Ivan Nova signed a three-year, $26 million contract in December 2016.
Nova ultimately pitched in 71 games for the franchise before he was traded in December 2018.
O’Hearn’s reported signing comes four days after the Pirates made arguably their biggest trade acquisition under general manager Ben Cherington by bringing in second baseman Brandon Lowe from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Bringing in Lowe and O’Hearn aren’t the only moves the Pirates have made this offseason. The franchise has also signed reliever Gregory Soto to a one-year, $7.75 million deal.
The Pirates additionally acquired top-100 prospect Jhostynxon GarcÃa from the Boston Red Sox and added outfielder Jake Magnum and closer Mason Montgomery as part of the Lowe trade.
Pittsburgh has also reportedly been in on another top free agent in Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto, with whom the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Colin Beazley recently reported the Pirates have had “multiple virtual meetings.”
The Pirates also reportedly offered a four-year, $125 million deal to slugger Kyle Schwarber before the Philadelphia Phillies brought him back for five years and $150 million, per MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf.
This marks the first offseason since Cherington took over as GM in 2019 that the Pirates have been tied to some of the biggest names available in free agency.
Cherington said during MLB winter meetings earlier this month the Pirates were looking to broadly improve in every area this offseason. The club earned a 71-91 record last season while finishing below .500 for a 10th straight year despite another stellar campaign from reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes.
“In a sort of perverse, good way, our bar is such that we can improve in any number— more on base, more power, more contact, you name it, we need all of it,” Cherington said earlier this month.
Cherington added, “It would be great if that includes power. It would be great if that’s a little more left-handed than right-handed.”
The Pirates have now addressed at least part of those needs by bringing in O’Hearn, a lefty who batted .281 with 17 home runs and 63 RBI during an age-31 season split between the Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres.
Pittsburgh could potentially look to bolster that signing by adding more power to the batting order before spring training kicks off next February.