The Pirates’ search for offense this winter comes with one obvious name attached, and one obvious problem.
Seiya Suzuki has already surfaced in Pittsburgh speculation, and it’s easy to see why. The Pirates spent the first half raking - they led the league with 516 runs scored - before the bottom fell out after the All-Star break, when they sank to 29th with 251 runs.
That drop-off wasn’t random, and one of the clearest culprits was their work against left-handed pitching. Pittsburgh posted a .701 OPS against southpaws over the full season, good for 18th in baseball, and that number slid even further to .689 in the second half.
Suzuki would attack that weakness head-on. He put up a 134 wRC+ this season and owns a career .867 OPS against lefties, the kind of profile that could deepen Don Kelly’s lineup in a hurry. He’d also do it while weakening a division rival if the Pirates were able to land him from the Cubs.
But that’s where the caution flag comes in. Suzuki is a premium hitter and a strong defender, which means he’s going to command premium money. For a Pirates club that usually has to think carefully before jumping into the deep end, that could be the dealbreaker.
There is at least some reason to think Pittsburgh might be willing to stretch. The Pirates weren’t shy about chasing Kyle Schwarber a year ago with a lucrative offer, and Suzuki would bring more than just bat-to-ball power. His right-field defense and his success against lefties make him a cleaner fit for this roster than Schwarber was.
Even so, the market itself could make this tough. Suzuki is expected to draw interest from plenty of teams, and the thin state of the position-player market could drive his price into nine-figure territory. At 32, that’s a steep number to commit to.
That leaves Ben Cherington with a choice. He can make Suzuki the centerpiece of the offseason and take his biggest swing, or keep building around a group of less expensive offensive bets after what was, at least in part, a successful approach a year ago.
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