The Pittsburgh Pirates are only at the start of their offseason, but their own clubhouse has already made the priority pretty clear: bring back Brandon Lowe.
Lowe, who is set to hit free agency after the 2026 season, gave the Pirates exactly the kind of production teams spend all winter chasing. He was Pittsburgh’s best hitter in 2026 and, by the numbers, the top power-hitting second baseman in baseball. For a club trying to keep building momentum, that makes him a tough player to replace and an even tougher one to let leave.
That message came through loudest from inside the room. Jared Jones, after throwing four scoreless innings in the Pirates’ 4-2 season-ending win over the Detroit Tigers at PNC Park on Sept. 27, said the team’s foundation is already there - and Lowe should be part of it.
“We’ve got good bones as a team," Jones said. "Obviously, we want Brandon Lowe back in this clubhouse with us next year. If we can get that done in the offseason, that’s one hell of an offseason already.
"Like I said earlier this year, we just fought through injuries and they just so happened to be to some of our best players. That’s when times got rough. We keep all of us in the field, I truly do think we win 90 to 95 games next year.”
Konnor Griffin, who the Pirates are counting on to return even better in 2027 if he stays healthy, also pointed to Lowe as a major reason Pittsburgh took a step forward this season. Griffin, who worked alongside Lowe on the middle infield, said the veteran’s presence mattered both on the field and in the bigger picture.
"Yeah, I mean, we don't win [82] games without Brandon Lowe this year," Griffin said. "Him, Ryan O'Hearn, those two guys, they've changed the culture around here. What the Pirates want to see, a winning team, we don't do that without them.
"I'll say that Brandon, he's been awesome to play the middle with. I've learned a lot.
He's just got a lot of really good experience at the highest level, going all the way up to the World Series. I can pick his brain so much on a lot of different things.
It's helped me out a lot. It's been great to have those guys around."
The support has not been limited to Jones and Griffin. Ryan O'Hearn, Jake Mangum and Braxton Ashcraft all made clear how important they believe Lowe is to the Pirates’ plans for 2027.
That puts the front office in a familiar spot after a busy previous winter. The Pirates traded for Lowe, Mangum and left-handed reliever Mason Montgomery, then signed O'Hearn to a two-year, $29 million deal. They also locked up Griffin with a record nine-year, $140 million extension five days after his debut, signaling a major commitment to the shortstop’s future.
Keeping Griffin and letting Lowe walk would be a strange split, especially with the two forming what the Pirates believe can be a strong double-play pairing again in 2027.
Lowe’s case is built on performance, too. In 2026, he hit 35 home runs and drove in 96 runs while slashing .260/.331/.493 with an .824 OPS. He also made a significant jump defensively.
Manager Don Kelly echoed the same sentiment from the dugout, stressing that Lowe’s value went well beyond the box score.
“Brandon’s been phenomenal," Kelly said about Lowe. "On the field, clubhouse, community.
Everything that you would want in a player, he’s done a great job. We see the power and the offensive numbers.
His defense, he’s worked extremely hard to get better and there’s no doubt we’d love to have him back in a Pirate uniform next year.”
If the Pirates want to show they’re serious about pushing toward the postseason in 2027, the message from the clubhouse is already on the table. Lowe is a big part of that picture.
In Other News...
Pirates Sent A Clear Ryan O'Hearn Message In The Finale
Ryan OHearns season ended with more than just the usual closing-day box score line. In the Pirates finale, he got to 450 plate appearances and triggered a $100,000 bonus tied into his contract, a small but meaningful payoff after a year that mixed productivity with missed time. Even with the injuries that limited him, OHearn still logged 110 games and set career highs in home runs and RBIs, giving Pittsburgh a useful left-handed presence when he was on the field.
The Pirates also made a clear late-season adjustment to help get him there, shifting his spot in the batting order as the finish line approached. It was a subtle move, but one that said plenty about how the club valued the veterans season and about how close he was to hitting the contractual mark. For a team always weighing short-term lineup choices against longer-term roster decisions, it was a small reminder that every plate appearance can matter in more ways than one. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Could Lose A Key Voice On Don Kellys Staff
The Mariners managerial search has a Pittsburgh angle, and it could end up touching the Pirates dugout. Kristopher Negrn, who serves as bench coach on Don Kellys staff, is reportedly among the candidates being considered to replace Dan Wilson in Seattle, a job that would come with a familiar organization for Negrn and a path he has already traveled in different roles there.
For the Pirates, the timing matters because they are not expected to make sweeping coaching changes of their own. Still, if Negrn lands elsewhere, Kelly would need to account for the loss of a trusted voice on the staff, and that kind of adjustment can ripple beyond one seat in the dugout. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Fans Know Why This Ben Cherington Debate Feels So Frustrating
Ben Cherington appears set to enter an eighth season as Pirates general manager in 2027, with team chairman Bob Nutting giving him the sense that he will stay on in the role. For a fan base that has spent years waiting for the franchise to make real postseason headway, the news lands less like a fresh direction and more like another familiar chapter in a long-running stalemate.
The frustration around Cherington is not just about one executives future, but about the timing of it. Pittsburgh has seen limited progress toward October relevance during his tenure, and keeping the same voice in charge invites the same questions the Pirates have been hearing for years: what exactly has changed, and when will the results finally match the patience being asked of everyone else? [Read more 🡒]