The Pittsburgh Pirates head into 2025 needing offense, and the outfield is a position that will need to produce. Bryan Reynolds, who turned in another fine season, is firmly entrenched in left field. Center field will be the domain of converted shortstop Oneil Cruz. In 2024, outfielders not named Reynolds, Cruz, or Andrew McCutchen (the designated hitter who played 21 innings in right field) combined to hit just .207/.277/.326 while striking out in 27.5 percent of their at-bats.
Pirates Go Into 2025 Needing Outfield Help; Here Are Possibilities
Pirates Go Into 2025 Needing Outfield Help
With rookie pitchers Paul Skenes and Jared Jones on the big club in 2024, Pirates fans and scribes saw a golden opportunity that the Pirates’ brain trust didn’t seem to grasp. Their top prospect, Bubba Chandler, is expected to join the rotation in 2025, giving the Bucs golden opportunity number two. It’s imperative that general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton not blow this one, too. Otherwise, they’ll alienate what’s left of an eroding fan base and perhaps even lose their jobs.
Let’s look at what’s not a solution to the Pirates’ outfield issues. Veteran Michael A. Taylor, who gave the Pirates a woeful 52 OPS+ and 50 wRC+ in 2024, won’t be back. Or at least he shouldn’t be. There are decisions to be made on arbitration-eligible outfielders. Edward Olivares and Billy McKinney made that decision for the Pirates by electing minor league free agency. Connor Joe, who stopped hitting after April, should be a non-tender candidate.
Whether they tender trade deadline acquisition Bryan De La Cruz is a toss-up. He didn’t provide the impact the Pirates were seeking, but he has power and is controllable through 2027. Another trade deadline addition, prospect Billy Cook, showed signs of one day becoming a good major leaguer. Cook struggled in his brief September trial but also gave Pittsburgh as many home runs (three) as they got from De La Cruz in 119 fewer plate appearances. In any event, the Pirates would be wise not to rely on either for their 2025 outfield. Cherington will be looking for another outfielder, perhaps two, due to rumors swirling about Reynolds perhaps moving to first base. Let’s assume Cherington goes the free agent route. After all, the harsh reality is, who can he afford to trade whom other teams would even want?
The Elite
Several elite outfielders will become free agents after the World Series: Juan Soto, Cody Bellinger (if he opts out of his contract with the Chicago Cubs), Teoscar Hernández, Anthony Santander, Tyler O’Neill, and Jurickson Profar. Two others who I might consider second tier to that group are Joc Pederson and Hunter Renfroe. Pederson is under a mutual option with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Renfroe has a player option to return to the Kansas City Royals.
Any of the above would look good in the Pirates outfield in 2025. However, all are out of reach for the Pirates due to the salaries they’ll command and the teams who will be willing to meet their demands. An exception might be Profar, who made “only” $1 million in 2024. He hit .280/.380/.459, 24 HR, and 85 RBI. However, every one of those figures was a career-high. Teams need to proceed with caution in offering him an outlandish contract based on a season that may have been an anomaly.
A Reality Check And A Thought
There’s speculation in Pittsburgh that after the Pirates let Rowdy Tellez and Isiah Kiner-Falefa fall just short of their incentives, no free agent will come to Pittsburgh. That’s pure hogwash. Ballplayers are a unique fraternity that the rest of us will never understand. They judge one another by the size of the contract. As was the case with Aroldis Chapman, they’ll go wherever there’s money.
The recent news that the Pohlad family will explore selling the Minnesota Twins has Pirates hoping it’s a sign that owner Bob Nutting will follow suit. Here’s a reality check. One has nothing to do with the other. Mark Cuban isn’t buying the Pirates. Neither is Michael Keaton. Cherington recently said that payroll would increase in 2025, but he didn’t specify by how much. It looks like it will be business as usual in 2025.
Even so, here’s a thought. In 2023, the Pirates added some $30 million to the payroll via free agency or preseason trades. The players so acquired (Jiman Choi, Jarlin Garcia, Austin Hedges, Rich Hill, Carlos Santana, and Vince Velasquez) added just 1.9 WAR. Due to injuries, Garcia never played for the Pirates, and Choi and Velasquez hardly played at all. In 2024, $32.5 million was added to the payroll, again via free agency or preseason deals. Those players (Chapman, Marco Gonzales, Yasmani Grandal, Olivares, Martín Pérez, Taylor, and Tellez) did just a little better, good for 3.3 WAR.
Let’s take it as a given that there’s enough pitching, middle infield, and catching depth. If the Pirates have a budget in the neighborhood of $30 million on free agents, why not dedicate that to one or two hitters who can play the outfield in 2025? It won’t bring Soto to Pittsburgh, but what about Hernández or Santander?
Business As Usual
It’s a nice thought for Pirates fans. The reality is that Cherington’s approach to signing free agents is to find guys who are a year or more removed from a good season, in the hope that his coaches can draw out whatever magic worked before. Cherington has an undying belief in his processes and coaches, even if the fans don’t. Thus, the following are some more realistic possibilities.
Leaving Their Hearts In San Francisco?
Mark Canha (2024 teams, salary, and stats: Detroit Tigers/San Francisco Giants, $11.5 million, .242/.344/.346, 7 HR, 42 RBI. Best most recent season, 2019: .273/.396/.517, 26 HR, 58 RBI). He’ll turn 36 in February and appears to be a player in decline. He hit just .229 against right-handed pitching in 2024 and seems best suited as a platoon player at this point. The Pirates need more than just a platoon player in their outfield in 2025. Cherington might be enticed by the fact that Canha picked it up after his trade to San Francisco, hitting .288/.376/.329 there, although without power. Cherington might also gamble that Canha’s 2024 splits are an aberration. For his career, Canha’s splits are about even.
Michael Conforto (2024 team, salary, and stats: Giants, $18 million, .237/.309/.450, 20 HR, 66 RBI. Best most recent season, 2019: .257/.363/.494, 33 HR, 92 RBI). Conforto, 31, hasn’t been the same since his 2022 shoulder surgery. Last year’s 20 home runs looked good, but they came with a 24.2 percent strikeout rate and a meager 8.6 percent walk rate. That doesn’t represent much of an upgrade over De La Cruz. Furthermore, Conforto wants to return to San Francisco.
Familiarity And Turn-Offs
Adam Duvall (2024 team, salary, and stats: Atlanta Braves, $3 million, .182/.245/.323, 11 HR, 30 RBI. Best most recent season: 2021, .228/.281/.491, 38 HR, National League-leading 113 RBI, and a Gold Glove Award). With Duvall having hit .247 with 21 HR in 2023, Cherington might see 2024 as a mere off year. The relatively low salary that Duvall might command will be attractive to the low-budget Pirates as they seek outfield help for 2025. At the same time, there will be no bigger turn-off to what’s left of the fan base than a 36-year-old who just hit .182.
Randal Grichuk (2024 team, salary, and stats: Diamondbacks, $1.5 million, .291/.348/.528, 12 HR, 46 RBI. Best most recent season: 2019, .232/.280/.457, 31 HR, 80 RBI). Grichuk’s numbers for 2024 weren’t terrible, especially considering that the 33-year-old appeared in only 106 games. Grichuk played for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2018-21. Cherington was their vice president of baseball operations from 2016-19. He’s tended to bring players with which he was familiar during his time in Toronto to the Pirates. However, Grichuk is under a $6 million mutual option for 2025.
Mitch Haniger (2024 team, salary, and stats: Seattle Mariners, $20 million, .208/.286/.334, 12 HR, 44 RBI. Best most recent season: 2021, .253/.318/.485, 39 HR, 100 RBI). Haniger, 33, is a free agent only if he opts out of the third year of his current contract, which will pay him $15.5 million. After hitting .208, why would he?
Speaking of moves that would turn off the fan base, there’s Aaron Hicks (2024 team, salary, and stats: Los Angeles Angels, $9.8 million, 8-for-57 with 23 strikeouts. Best most recent season: 2018, .248/.366/.467, 27 HR, 79 RBI). Hicks was released on May 1 and didn’t play baseball after that.
The Last Word
Other free-agent outfielders include Harrison Bader, Joey Gallo, Jason Heyward, Max Kepler, Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot, and Alex Verdugo. In future articles, I’ll look at the other positions of interest for the Pirates. Bet you can hardly wait.
Main Photo Credits: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
