PITTSBURGH - With five days left before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Pirates are in position to act like a club that believes this season is real.
They sit one game out of the final National League Wild Card spot, and the combination of a strong rotation and a productive offense has put Pittsburgh in the mix for its first postseason trip since 2015. That’s why ESPN’s Buster Olney pointed to the Pirates as one of 12 teams that need to be active at the deadline, especially in the hunt for bullpen help.
Olney also relayed the view of a rival staffer who expects Pittsburgh to be busy.
"That rotation is [explicit] real," the rival staffer said to Olney, "and they can score."
That kind of confidence puts the spotlight squarely on general manager Ben Cherington, who is in his seventh season and under pressure to keep pushing the roster forward. The Pirates have not had the level of success needed to make his future feel secure if this run falls short.
Cherington has already made some meaningful moves this offseason. He signed slugger Ryan O'Hearn to a two-year, $29 million deal and landed second baseman Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum and left-handed relief pitcher Mason Montgomery from the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-team deal that sent Mike Burrows to the Houston Astros.
Now comes the harder part: adding at the deadline, with the bullpen at the center of the conversation. Pittsburgh has had trouble finishing games and protecting leads, which makes late-inning help a clear priority.
Cherington said the club has the "flexibility" to make the necessary moves and stressed that the front office is pushing constantly to improve the roster.
"We feel urgency every day," Cherington said. "Everybody has a job to do to get better.
That starts with me. That urgency is felt.
I think we just have to stay at it. We’ve already done some things that we felt made sense at the time and felt were improvements to the roster.
We should be using every minute we have to our disposal. We still have a lot of minutes left in the next few days to use.
Keep working it.
"Believe there are parts of the team that are working well and we believe are gonna be strengths as we get deeper into the season. There are things we want to improve still also..."
The Pirates’ case is built on two pillars. First, the rotation has real punch, led by Cy Young winner Paul Skenes, All-Star Braxton Ashcraft, veteran Mitch Keller, rookie Bubba Chandler and Jared Jones, who has been excellent in July after returning from internal brace surgery in late May.
Second, the offense has taken a major step forward. Pittsburgh has been one of the best lineups in baseball, a sharp turnaround from 2025, and it has shown up across a number of statistical categories.
O'Hearn, Lowe and Mangum have all helped drive that production, while internal gains from Nick Gonzales, Spencer Horwitz, Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Endy Rodríguez have also played a major role.
Even with all that in place, the Pirates still need bullpen additions if they want to keep this run alive. Those kinds of moves often come at a premium, but this is the stretch where paying that price can matter most.
In Other News...
Pirates May Have Pulled Off Their Rarest Kind Of Trade Win
The Pirates July 30 swap of KeBryan Hayes to Cincinnati already looked like the kind of move that could only be judged over time, and the early signs have been encouraging in more than one way. Hayes has not found much rhythm at the plate since landing with the Reds, while the prospect piece Pittsburgh got back, Sammy Stafura, has been turning heads in High-A Greensboro and giving the front office something tangible to track beyond the immediate roster shuffle.
Pittsburgh also did not stop with the first return, quickly flipping Taylor Rogers to the Cubs for outfield prospect Ivan Brethowr and adding another layer to a deal that keeps looking more useful by the week. For a club that has spent plenty of time searching for value in trade season, this is the rare kind of move where the Pirates may have improved the present, added future depth, and watched the other side absorb the long-term burden. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Just Sent A Troubling Message About Ben Cherington's Deadline Plans
Ahead of an important series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Pirates shuffled the roster by recalling Jhostynxon Garcia, Hunter Barco and Noah Murdock from Triple-A Indianapolis while sending Tyler Callihan, Isaac Mattson and Brandon Eisert back down. It was the kind of in-house adjustment teams make when they need a spark or a reset, with Garcia providing another look in the outfield mix and the two pitchers giving the club fresh arms for the stretch run.
But the timing also invites a bigger question about how Ben Cherington views the days leading into the trade deadline. If Pittsburgh is leaning on Triple-A depth to patch together the roster now, it could be a sign the front office is preparing to keep its biggest moves internal rather than chase help from outside the organization. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Finally Get Injury Hope As Another Setback Changes Everything
Oneil Cruz is moving closer to a return from the fractured left hand that has kept him out, and the Pirates are finally seeing some encouraging signs as August approaches. Cruz has resumed all baseball activities and could start live at-bats soon, putting him on a path to rejoin the roster once he is eligible to come off the 60-day injured list after Aug. 7.
The picture is less clean elsewhere, even with a few other names trending the right way. Evan Sisk is nearing a Triple-A rehab assignment after left elbow inflammation, and Konnor Griffin remains on track for an early-September return from a left ring finger injury, but Spencer Horwitzs rehab was interrupted by a concussion and now hinges on clearing protocol before he can move forward. [Read more 🡒]