Pittsburgh has two names in the mix for one of baseball’s top defensive honors.
Rawlings announced its Gold Glove finalists for the 2026 season, and Pirates star Brandon Lowe is in the National League second base race alongside Milwaukee’s Brice Turang and St. Louis’ JJ Wetherholt. Utility man Jared Triolo also cracked the finalist list, joining Arizona’s Ildemaro Vargas and Atlanta’s Mauricio Dubón in the NL utility group.
For Lowe, this is new territory. He has never taken home a Gold Glove Award, but he now has a shot to win his first one in what could be his only season in Pittsburgh. The 32-year-old came over from the Tampa Bay Rays last offseason in a three-team deal that also sent Mason Montgomery and Jake Mangum to the Pirates, with Mike Burrows headed to the Houston Astros.
Lowe did plenty more than just hold down second base. He gave Pittsburgh a huge offensive year, slashing .260/.331/.493 with 35 home runs and 96 RBIs across a career-best 656 plate appearances. He didn’t make the All-Star team, but he did post a 5.4 bWAR, the best mark of his career.
Triolo already knows what this award feels like. He won the Gold Glove for utility players in 2024, and now he’s back in the finalist conversation after another strong defensive season.
Rawlings’ Gold Glove winners will be decided from this final group, with the Pirates waiting to see whether either of their finalists adds another trophy to the case.
In Other News...
Pirates Face A Costly David Bednar Question This Offseason
David Bednars path out of Pittsburgh and into free agency has become one of the more interesting offseason subplots for a club that still needs to sharpen its roster in multiple places. The Pirates moved on from him after a rough start to the 2026 season, only to watch him settle in and finish strong, which makes the trade look a little more complicated now than it did in the moment. The prospects Pittsburgh got back are part of the equation too, but the bigger question is what the Pirates are willing to spend if they want to keep a proven late-inning arm in the mix.
Bednar remains a high-end bullpen option, the kind of reliever any contender would be happy to plug into the back end, but Pittsburgh has to weigh that against a broader list of needs. The bullpen can always use help, yet the front office also has other roster areas demanding attention, and thats where the real tension sits for this winter. The Pirates may like the idea of a reunion, but whether they make a serious push could say more about their offseason priorities than about Bednar himself. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates May Be Running Out Of Time On Their Top Offseason Need
The Pirates have spent the early offseason treating second base as their clearest priority, and Brandon Lowe has emerged as the player most tied to that need. Pittsburgh has been weighing ways to address the spot while the free-agent market still has some depth, but the broader backdrop is making the decision harder. The club would prefer to sort through its options with some patience, especially with other second basemen available if the top target proves too expensive or too difficult to land.
The problem is the calendar may not offer much of that patience. A potential MLB lockout could quickly squeeze the Pirates leverage and limit what they can do if negotiations stall, turning what looked like a measured pursuit into a more urgent one. If the market tightens and Lowe remains available, Pittsburgh may have to decide sooner than planned whether to push hard for him or risk watching its top offseason need linger deeper into the winter. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Still Lack The Late-Game Edge Contenders Rely On
The Pirates gave themselves something to build on with an 82-80 finish in 2026, their first winning season since 2018, but the run only sharpened the conversation around what still separates a good club from a true contender. In a year when the bullpen showed its flaws, Pittsburgh leaned on arms like Mason Montgomery and Yohan Ramrez, yet the late innings often looked more fragile than teams with October expectations can afford.
For a club trying to turn a modest step forward into a real jump, the relief corps remains the part of the roster that most needs sharpening. The Pirates have enough evidence now to know that better late-game run prevention is not just a luxury, and the next few moves will reveal whether they can turn a promising season into one with staying power. [Read more 🡒]