Jim Bowden’s latest free-agent board points the Pirates toward a familiar offseason question: are they solving the right problem?
In his ranking of the top 40 free agents for 2026-27, Bowden listed several names that could make sense for Pittsburgh, including Brandon Lowe, Foster Griffin, Robbie Ray, Gleyber Torres, Daulton Varsho and Gregory Soto. That’s a useful pool of talent. It’s also a pretty striking group for a team whose biggest offensive issue in 2026 was its work against left-handed pitching.
Five of those six players are left-handed hitters or left-handed pitchers. Torres is the only right-handed bat in the bunch.
That stands out for a Pirates club that went 18-33 against left-handed starters last season and posted a .229 batting average, a .300 on-base percentage and a .359 slugging percentage in those games. Each of those marks ranked last in Major League Baseball.
Pittsburgh also struck out at a 25.6% clip against southpaws, the second-worst rate in the majors.
That kind of split can’t be brushed aside.
None of Bowden’s suggested targets is hard to understand on its own. Lowe was arguably Pittsburgh’s best position player in 2026, hitting 35 home runs while giving the team surprisingly strong defense at second base.
Keeping him should be high on the priority list. Griffin and Ray could help add rotation depth.
Soto would bring a veteran arm to the bullpen. Varsho could upgrade the outfield defense.
Torres would give the lineup another established hitter.
But there’s a difference between chasing good players and fixing the exact issue that keeps showing up on the stat sheet. The three pitchers don’t do anything for the Pirates’ offensive split, naturally. And among the three position players Bowden highlighted, two had their own problems when facing left-handed pitching.
Lowe finished 2026 with a .223 average and a .648 OPS against lefties. Varsho hit .222 with a .615 OPS against southpaws. Both have value beyond the bat, but neither jumps off the page as the clean answer to Pittsburgh’s most obvious offensive flaw.
Torres looks closer to the kind of hitter who could help. He posted a .785 OPS and a strong .414 on-base percentage against left-handed pitching in 2026.
Even so, his .237 batting average and two home runs against southpaws leave some doubt that he alone changes the shape of the lineup. Bowden projects Torres for a two-year, $42 million deal, too, which would be a significant commitment for a player who appeared in just 96 games last season.
There are at least a few internal reasons for the Pirates to feel better about this problem than they did a year ago. Oneil Cruz made major gains against left-handed pitching in 2026, and Konnor Griffin showed encouraging results against southpaws during his rookie season. Still, that kind of growth can’t be the entire plan.
Pittsburgh has spent years trying to build an offense that can support its pitching. In 2026, it finally made real progress, setting a franchise record for home runs and making a clear jump in overall production. Even so, left-handed starters continued to give the lineup fits.
Adding a starter, bolstering the bullpen or improving the defense would all make the Pirates better in 2027. But none of that matters much if opposing managers can keep short-circuiting the offense by turning to a lefty on the mound.
The Pirates don’t just need upgrades. They need the right mix. And if Ben Cherington spends another winter addressing everything except the weakness that kept dragging the offense down, Pittsburgh could head into 2027 with a pricier roster and the same old problem.
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