Ben Cherington is heading into his eighth season running the Pirates with something he had never had before: a winning record to point to. Pittsburgh finished 82-80 in 2026, an 11-win leap from the year before, but the general manager made it clear on Tuesday that the bar inside the organization is already higher.
“We believe whatever the record was, we know it wasn't good enough,” Cherington said. “I think we can look at it across the roster and be pretty open-minded about how we go about taking that next step.
“We've got a good foundation in place. We've got a lot of players already on the team that can be part of it, and we know we've got to get better. And so we can be pretty open-minded as to how to do that.”
That next step could start with Brandon Lowe. The Pirates are waiting on the star second baseman’s decision on the $23.15 million qualifying offer, with the deadline to accept set for next Tuesday. Cherington said the club needs that answer before it can fully map out the rest of its offseason plan.
Pittsburgh has also shown a willingness to shop in a deeper part of the free-agent pool than it has in the past. The Pirates pursued Kyle Schwarber and Munetaka Murakami last offseason before landing Ryan O’Hearn on the biggest free-agent hitter contract in franchise history.
“I don't feel like we're hamstrung or constrained,” Cherington said. “But it is a different offseason … there are different commitments on the books and a different arbitration class, and I think it will have some effect on how we approach getting better. But that part's not changing.”
Those commitments are piling up. Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller are due salary bumps, and first-time arbitration-eligible players such as Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Nick Gonzales, Spencer Horwitz and Carmen Mlodzinski are also set to get raises.
Lowe’s decision could also shape the infield picture, while the Pirates continue to weigh how to strengthen a roster that already has a solid outfield core. The bigger need, though, is on the mound. Pittsburgh is looking for ways to add left-handed pitching through free agency or trade, according to a report first from The Athletic and confirmed by a source to MLB.com.
Right now, the only left-handed starting option on the roster is Hunter Barco, who is inexperienced. In the bullpen, Mason Montgomery is expected to handle late innings, while Brandon Eisert and Evan Sisk are the other southpaws, with Gregory Soto headed for free agency.
Pitching coach Bill Murphy, asked last week by MLB.com about the challenge of balancing lefties in a rotation, said the issue is simpler than it sounds.
“For me, it just comes down to, you just want to have good pitching,” Murphy said. “I don't care if they throw righty or they throw lefty.
They’ve got to be able to get out righties. They’ve got to be able to get out lefties.”
Cherington also said he expects Paul Skenes to rebound from a season that fell short of his Cy Young-level standard, and he confirmed a report from MLB.com last month that Mitch Keller has fully recovered from his Grade 3 right arm teres major muscle strain.
Even with the areas that need attention, Cherington sounded optimistic about the shape of the staff entering 2027.
“You look at 2026 and our total pitching performance, I think it's fair to say we gave up a few more runs than we thought we would and think we're capable of,” Cherington said. “We think we're capable of being better than that. I also think there's some things under the hood that suggest that maybe there's a little bit of bad luck in there because the strikeout rate and walk rates are really good.”
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