PITTSBURGH - The Pirates are heading into an offseason loaded with contract calls, and the biggest ones sit right at the top of the pile.
Pittsburgh has only two free agents to sort through, but the club also has 10 arbitration-eligible players on the docket, including eight who are entering the process for the first time. After finishing 82-80 in 2026 and posting their first winning season since 2018, the Pirates still came up six games short of the National League Wild Card. If they want to keep pushing toward the postseason, these decisions matter.
The most important name is Brandon Lowe. The second baseman was more than just productive; he became a difference-maker for the Pirates in a lot of ways, and the organization would like to keep him around.
His teammates were openly pushing for that outcome, pointing to what he did on the field and what he brought off it as a clubhouse leader and community presence. Lowe also earned the Pirates’ Roberto Clemente Award.
Ben Cherington and Don Kelly both praised Lowe before the season ended and made it clear they would like to have him back. But Lowe is hitting free agency for the first time, and at 31, he has the chance to cash in on the biggest deal of his career. Pittsburgh’s biggest free-agent commitment for a position player so far was Ryan O’Hearn’s two-year, $29 million deal last offseason, and bringing Lowe back would require a much bigger swing - likely in the three- to four-year range.
Gregory Soto is the other free agent. The left-handed reliever turned in a solid 2026 season, but the expectation is that he will test the market and land elsewhere.
The arbitration side brings its own set of questions, starting with Paul Skenes. The right-hander is eligible for arbitration for the first time and is projected to make $7.2 million for 2027, which would nearly top the record Dallas Kuechel set at $7.25 million in 2016.
Depending on how Pittsburgh handles the process, that number could climb even higher. Even with a tougher 2026 season, the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year and 2025 National League Cy Young winner is set for a major raise.
Oneil Cruz is projected at $6.3 million in his second year of arbitration, and the Pirates should be ready to meet that figure. The center fielder put together a strong 2026 before a fractured left hand knocked him out for more than two months.
Before the injury, he was on pace for 34 home runs and 53 stolen bases. Even after the missed time, he still finished with 20 homers and 30 steals, which keeps the idea of an NL MVP push in 2027 very much in play.
There are eight other arbitration cases to work through. Yohan Ramírez is in his second year, while Jared Jones, Carmen Mlodzinski, Henry Davis, Endy Rodríguez, Jared Triolo, Spencer Horwitz and Nick Gonzales are all first-timers.
The Pirates should aim to keep most, if not all, of that group in place, though a few hearings could be part of the process before everything is settled.
In Other News...
Bryan Reynolds Had One 2026 Problem Pirates Fans Will Hate
Bryan Reynolds spent the 2026 season doing just about everything the Pirates could ask of him, showing up for all 162 games and finishing with a .261/.365/.424 line while leading the majors in doubles. Even so, the numbers only tell part of the story for a hitter whose power production was shaped by the environment around him as much as by his own swing.
According to Ballpark Pal, Reynolds was the unluckiest home run hitter in baseball in 2026, with an estimated 8.2 homers taken away by stadium and weather effects. Playing half his games at PNC Park, where the dimensions can be especially unfriendly to right-handed batters, helped explain why some of those well-struck balls never became souvenirs, and it leaves Pirates fans wondering what his totals might have looked like in a more forgiving setting. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Just Gave Pirates Fans A Painful Bullpen Reminder
The Braves found a way to turn a bullpen game into a postseason blueprint in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, leaning on Ray Kerr and Didier Fuentes for more than six innings in a win over the Dodgers. It was the kind of clean, flexible pitching plan that can look modern and sharp when it works, especially when a team is trying to steady a series without a traditional starter taking the ball.
For Pirates fans, it carried an uncomfortable reminder of those late-season bullpen games in Pittsburgh, only theirs came out of necessity rather than design. Injuries and a shortage of healthy starters forced the Pirates into that kind of scramble, so watching Atlanta use the same approach to even a division series only sharpened the contrast between a planned postseason tactic and a roster reality the Pirates spent months trying to manage. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Rotation Hype Comes Down To One Huge 2027 Question
The Pirates can already picture a rotation built around Paul Skenes in 2027, with Braxton Ashcraft, Mitch Keller and a few others giving the club reason to believe the staff could be a strength again. There is real optimism in the organization after a 2026 season that brought mixed results but also encouraging stretches, including Ashcrafts All-Star nod and Jones coming back from injury to help late in the year.
What makes the conversation interesting is that so much of the planning still hinges on one big unknown: how the group settles in once everyone is healthy and the roles sort themselves out. Pittsburgh has the makings of a deep staff, but the difference between a promising rotation on paper and one that carries the club is often a matter of timing, health and whether the right arms line up when the season matters most. [Read more 🡒]