The Pittsburgh Pirates enter the 2025-26 offseason with the same desperate need to upgrade the offense that they had last year (are we even a little bit surprised?).
There are certainly ways for the Pirates to add bats, from free agency to trades, and Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently laid out several of those options in an offseason roadmap for the Pirates' front office. Among them include trading for Brandon Lowe or Jordan Westburg and signing upcoming free agents like Harrison Bader or Max Kepler.
All sound like great starting points. But a credible plan to upgrade the Pirates only exists if ownership — specifically Bob Nutting — allows spending that reflects a team trying to win, not just exist.