The Pittsburgh Pirates are staring at the kind of offseason that can shape more than one year. After an 11-win jump and their first winning season since 2018, they still finished at 82-80 and missed the postseason for the 11th straight year, the second-longest streak in baseball. That leaves 2026 as a pivotal year for a club that has a solid base, but still has clear holes to patch if it wants to take another step forward in 2027.
The biggest issue is the one that kept showing up all season: left-handed pitching. Pittsburgh went 18-33 against left-handed starting pitching, compared with 62-47 against right-handers, and the numbers at the plate tell the same story. Against southpaw starters, the Pirates hit .231/.303/.360 for an OPS of .663, with the second-lowest slugging percentage, fourth-lowest OPS, seventh-lowest batting average and 11th-lowest on-base percentage.
There were some bright spots. Oneil Cruz, after working to fix the issue over the offseason, turned a brutal .102 mark in 2025 into a team-best .326/.374/.473 line against lefties in 2026, good for an .847 OPS.
Bryan Reynolds also handled them well, hitting .276/.364/.443 with an .807 OPS, and his 58 hits against left-handers tied for sixth-most in baseball. The Pirates also got some help from rookies Rafael Flores Jr. and Esmeryln Valdez, both of whom had success against left-handed pitching.
Even so, this is not something Pittsburgh can expect to solve only from within. Some internal growth is coming, but the Pirates still need to find help through a trade or free agency if they want to stop getting buried by lefties.
That problem connects to another need: more right-handed power. Pittsburgh hit 76 home runs right-handed in 2026, eighth-lowest in baseball, while its left-handed hitters produced 110 homers, tied for sixth-most.
Valdez and Flores should help after hitting 17 and 11 home runs, respectively, and Henry Davis also reached 10, but the rest of the right-handed group does not bring enough thump. Konnor Griffin should add more power as he develops, yet Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo do not really solve that issue.
One name that fits both of those concerns is Guardians outfielder Jo Adell. He would give the Pirates power and a strong bat against lefties, having hit 23 home runs in 2026 and posted a .320/.372/.599 line with an OPS of .971, including 14 home runs against left-handed pitching.
Third base is another spot that needs attention. Since the Pirates traded Ke’Bryan Hayes at the 2025 deadline, they have not had a real answer there.
Gonzales handled most of the work in 2026, making 101 starts in 112 games, but the defensive numbers were rough: minus-15 defensive runs saved and minus-11 outs above average, the worst marks among third basemen with at least 850 innings played. Triolo gives them better glove work, with a career total of plus-14 DRS and plus-11 OAA, but his .237/.317/.335 career line with an OPS of .652 makes him look more like a utility piece than an everyday fix.
If Pittsburgh goes outside the organization for third base, Houston’s Isaac Paredes and Baltimore’s Coby Mayo are names to watch. Neither is a defensive standout, but both would bring more power than Gonzales. Paredes hit 25 home runs in 2026, his second-most in a season, while Mayo hit a career-high 24 and led baseball with 16 home runs against left-handed pitching.
On the pitching side, the rotation already looks strong with Paul Skenes, Braxton Ashcraft, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller and Bubba Chandler, but it is entirely right-handed. That is not the Pirates’ biggest problem, yet adding a left-handed starter would give them more depth and a better cushion if injuries hit, which they usually do over a 162-game season. A low-cost veteran rental makes more sense than a major splash, and Pittsburgh flirted with bringing back José Quintana and Tyler Anderson last offseason before moving on.
The bullpen also deserves a hard look after last year’s mistake of running back mostly the same group without enough investment. Justin Lawrence, Isaac Mattson and Dennis Santana all regressed badly, and the Pirates did not really address the relief corps until the trade deadline.
They now have Mason Montgomery as their shutdown closer and Luke Weaver as their setup man after the deadline deal, while Lake Bachar and Yohan Ramírez give them useful middle-relief options. Still, another high-leverage arm belongs near the top of the list.
David Bednar is also a free agent, and the Pirates could try to bring the former All-Star closer back home to give playoff baseball a shot in his hometown. Whether it is Bednar or someone else, Pittsburgh has options. What it cannot afford is another offseason that leaves too many of these problems untouched.
In Other News...
Pirates Are Already Sending A Worrying Brandon Lowe Offseason Signal
Brandon Lowes first year with the Pirates gave the club plenty to like, both on the field and in the clubhouse, and general manager Ben Cherington made clear the organization noticed. Cherington praised Lowes performance and the way he fit in with the group, which is exactly the sort of internal endorsement a player wants heading into free agency for the first time.
Still, Pittsburgh is not treating a return as a given. Cherington also suggested the Pirates need to keep exploring other options before deciding whether to bring Lowe back, a sign that the club is weighing the relationship against financial reality and whatever the market brings. Lowe and the Pirates have mutual interest in a reunion, but the next step may come down to whether the numbers line up. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Have An Internal Answer To A Costly Offensive Problem
The Pirates spent much of 2026 chasing fixes for an offense that too often stalled against left-handed pitching, and the issue lingered as one of the more costly flaws in an uneven season. Even with injuries undercutting the clubs postseason hopes, there were still pockets of promise, as a few hitters stayed healthy and productive enough to give the front office a clearer picture of where the lineup might improve.
The encouraging part for Pittsburgh is that the answer may already be in the organization, with Konnor Griffin, Oneil Cruz, Esmerlyn Valdez, Bryan Reynolds and Rafael Flores Jr. among the players who showed the kind of potential that could matter most in 2027. The challenge now is turning that upside into consistent production against lefties, because the Pirates do not need a theoretical solution as much as a lineup that can finally hold up when the matchup turns unfavorable. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Prospect Has A Roberto Clemente Connection Fans Will Want To See
Aiden Ruiz is already giving Pirates fans a reason to pay attention beyond the draft slot. The infielder, taken in the second round of the 2026 MLB Draft, has built a reputation around his defense at shortstop, and he also carries a connection to Roberto Clemente that fits naturally with Pittsburghs long memory of the Hall of Famer. Ruiz was the fourth overall pick in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League draft, adding another layer to a profile that has started to draw notice.
That connection runs through both his Puerto Rican heritage and the setting itself, since Ruiz played in the leagues stadium and now could keep building his game in winter ball with Gigantes de Carolina. For the Pirates, the bigger picture is simple enough: a young infielder with defensive upside, a meaningful baseball tie to Clemente, and a professional debut expected to come in the 2027 season. [Read more 🡒]