The Pirates’ 2027 rotation already looks sturdy on paper, but there’s still a clear hole if Pittsburgh wants to make it even better: a left-handed starter.
Right now, every projected member of that group is a righty - Paul Skenes, Braxton Ashcraft, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller and Bubba Chandler. That leaves the Pirates without a southpaw in the mix, and one possible answer on the market is Trevor Rogers.
Rogers is set to hit free agency this offseason, and he brings the kind of profile teams can use in the middle of a rotation or deeper down the staff. He’s the sort of bulk starter who can chew through innings, which gives him real value for clubs looking for steady workhorse production.
He doesn’t light up radar guns. Rogers works with a 93.8 mph four-seam fastball and a 93.4 mph sinker, but the heater has been his best weapon.
Statcast gave that pitch a +12 run value in 2026, tied for 14th-best in baseball. He rounds out his mix with a changeup, a sweeper and a cutter, giving him a five-pitch arsenal.
The changeup, though, took a step back. It went from a +7 run value in 2025 to -12 in 2026, which Statcast rated as the worst changeup in the league last season.
Even with that dip, Rogers still does a lot of things well. He gets hitters to chase at a 35.6% clip, which lands in the 92nd percentile, and his 5.6% walk rate also sits in the 92nd percentile. He limits damage too, with a 36.2% hard-hit rate and a 6.8% barrel rate.
The results with Baltimore over the last two seasons have been strong. In 48 starts, Rogers went 19-14 with a 3.16 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings and 2.2 walks per nine.
His 2025 season was especially sharp. He finished 9-3 in 18 starts, posted a 1.81 ERA across 109.2 innings, struck out 103 and walked 29, and held hitters to a .180 average with a 0.90 WHIP.
Health remains the biggest question. Rogers missed the first two months of 2025 because of a right knee subluxation, and he missed nearly all of 2023 with a left biceps strain.
When he’s right, Rogers looks like the kind of arm that can slot in as a second or third starter and give a team quality innings from the left side.
Baltimore extended him a qualifying offer worth $23.15 million for 2027, which would keep him with the Orioles if he accepted. More likely, though, he’ll test free agency and give all 30 teams a shot at landing him on a longer deal.
The price tag won’t be small. MLB Trade Rumors projects five years and $115 million, ESPN has him at four years and $76 million, and The Athletic projects three years and $64 million. Any of those deals would come with the highest average annual value on the Pirates’ roster, topping Mitch Keller’s team-high $18.5 million salary in 2027.
That matters because Pittsburgh already sits at a projected $100 million payroll before adding anyone else. The club has other places it could spend that money, including re-signing free-agent second baseman Brandon Lowe, reinforcing the bullpen, finding a true third baseman and adding a right-handed bat who can handle left-handed pitching.
The Pirates also don’t exactly need another starter on the surface. Still, depth matters, especially if they’re trying to keep a postseason push on track.
Pittsburgh could try to make room by trading Keller and then pursuing Rogers, but even that wouldn’t guarantee a win in a bidding war. Another team may simply be more desperate and more willing to pay up.
Rogers would make sense for the Pirates. Landing him, though, would be a surprise.
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Pirates Shortstop Prospect Is Forcing A Bigger Future Debate
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Sanfords 2026 season already showed real progress in his overall hitting, and the next checkpoint should come at Double-A Altoona next year. That level will matter a lot for the Pirates, because it is where his development starts to feel less theoretical and more tied to the major league timeline. If he keeps pushing forward there, the organization may have a tougher decision ahead about just how quickly his future can be accelerated. [Read more 🡒]