25 shipped

Just fyi for those interested

According to the Fangraphs Top-50 Free Agent list, 35 are pitchers. This poses an interesting problem for the Pirates, who are as pitching rich as they are batting starved. The conventional wisdom indicates that this is a buyer's market for arms, and it seems like there are quality arms out there for a decent price. What can or should the Pirates do about it? They could try to scoop up a quality starting pitcher at a reasonable (but high price for the Pirates) and come at the league with a Skenes/Jones/Keller/(Quintana/Pivetta/Kikuchi/Bieber/etc.) squad that could be very formidable for the next few years. This allows them a nice contingency plan for when someone goes down with an injury to promote Chandler. Or do they play "Bucco Bingo" and sign a bunch of fringe has been position players and hope one of them comes around - which ends up costing the same as signing a single B+ free agent SP. Thoughts?

Next Pirates Game: Sat, Feb 22, 03:33 AM EST @ Orioles (109 days)

^^^Posted: ^^^11/04/2024 ^^^05:00:01 ^^^AM ^^^EST

I feel like Rizzo would not be a bad gamble. We need a 1B, and if they wont start Billy Cook to begin the year I think he’d end up being decent. No way we get the polar bear for obvious reasons. But we could sign Rizzo coming off of a bad year for slightly below the market average. But hey. I could be wasting my time speculating like this. I just wanted to see how the people feel

Well, free agents can officially begin signing with new teams tomorrow at 5 pm est. Who does everyone have on their Pirates free agency wish list? Obviously, everyone will want Juan Soto, but in terms of reality, who do you want to see the Pirates sign? Who do you think they realistically sign?

Personally, I think a 1B and RF signee should be at the top of their list this offseason (Tale as old as time as this point.) They should definitely look into some bullpen help, and should not shy away from making trades that involve the likes of Holderman and Bednar.

In my list, I'm going on the mindset that the catchers will be Endy and Joey Bart next season. With that thinking, these are the free agents I think they SHOULD go after:

First Basemen:
Christian Walker - At 34, he'll get a nice payday for sure, as he's been a great piece for the Diamondbacks, but not someone who would break the bank. He'd bring a solid bat with power, plus Gold Glove defense. He's also at an age where he'll still be producing, you could sign for multiple years without much fear of him dropping off significantly, but also not young enough to be looking for a huge deal.

Paul Goldschmidt - Yeah, he's 37. Yeah, he's coming off of the worst offensive season of his career, but still had an OPS north of .700, hit 22 HRs, and knocked in 65. The Pirates love going after guys who are on the backend of their careers, have a recognizable name, and could feasibly have a turnaround season. IMO, Goldy is that option this year. They may be able to get him on a 1 year deal to see how things play out. Again, he shouldn't command a crazy amount (probably a little high), but could also be someone that you could flip at the deadline depending on the circumstances of the season.

Ryan O'Hearn - This is a dark horse candidate for me. He didn't put up great numbers to start his career, but that was with some REALLY bad Royals teams, and were a fairly small sample size each year. After going to Baltimore in 2023, his productivity has improved greatly. He's still young (31), he's definitely not going to cost a ton, and brings a left handed bat with a short porch in RF.

Right Fielders:
Anthony Santander - He's going to get a nice payday, but I'd definitely pay it. It'll likely be more than the Pirates would like to spend, but I don't think it'll be a crazy amount that would make a deal unreasonable. Switch hitting power bat who'll likely bring 25+ HRs to a lineup that definitely needs that kind of output. Plays a respectable defense, and is only 30. If the Pirates were to make a key addition, and it were Santander, I think that's definitely a likeable move.

Now, who do I think they WILL go after:

Anthony Rizzo, Tommy Pham, Rowdy Tellez, Max Kepler. Again, guys who aren't bad, but aren't going to put up earth shattering production, will likely be signed for cheap, and would give the Pirates the ability to say that they signed a recognizable name at a team friendly deal. I'm not going to get into reliever options, because there are just so many, and this post is already super long.

So, who do you want to see them sign? And, who do you think they will sign?

It's road to the show not franchise so it's a done deal

DK had an interesting take on the Pirates signing Soto, after his comments of being open to all 30 teams.

While he doesn't think that there is any chance in hell of it happening, he opined about how the Pirates could, very easily, afford a marque player and pay them $30M a year, without any actual increase in payroll as a portion of revenue.

Basically, if they were to sign a player like Soto, they could then raise ticket prices off of the news and people would still be more than willing to pay the new price to see a team with Skenes, Jones, Keller, Reynolds, Cruz, and Soto.

They could also increase rates for advertising/sponsoring, as well. Plus, there would be increases in merch sales, too.

Basically, almost the entire cost of the deal could be covered without dipping into the red, based off of current revenue projections.

What say you? Link to DK's version, with some additional details.

https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-pirates-claim-infielder-tristan-gray-off-waivers-from-the-athletics

I enjoyed seeing Garrett do his things. What are the odds he would ever come back? Would be a great P.R move. I saw him play peekaboo with a baby

After Betts reached first I immediately had flashbacks of O’Neil Cruz jogging down the first base line. It’s so sad that I have no doubt in my mind the Pirates would just roll over and die in that situation. Watching playoff baseball has always been tough because I have to watch teams with so much more money and talent than the Pirates, but it just really dawned on me how little heart, hustle, and pride the Buccos have compared to just about any organization in sports.

33 years as a diehard fan with 30 losing seasons to show for it. Here’s to the inevitable 31st!

This is the worst I've ever seen opening day tickets. I've paid less for section 20.

Check it out

I dunno about you guys but I'm excited!