The Pittsburgh Pirates (supposedly) came into this winter with a clear plan: trade from starting-pitching depth to finally fix a lineup that finished last in baseball in basically every offensive category that matters.
That part makes sense. Pitching is Pittsburgh’s currency, and bats are the shortage. And to their credit, they already executed that plan twice — flipping Johan Oviedo and Tyler Samaniego to Boston for Jhostynxon Garcia, an MLB-ready Top 100 outfielder at a position of need, then sending Mike Burrows out to Houston in a three-teamer that neeted them Brandon Lowe. That’s the exact type of shift this team had to make.