At 4:10 p.m. today, the Miami Marlins host the Pittsburgh Pirates on Opening Day. Ever since the rebuild started, many Pirates fans thought that 2025 would be the year that this team would break out. That seems to be untrue.
In 2024, the team grew a lot. They called up two amazing pitchers in Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, and got two solid hitters, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Joey Bart. That was a step in the right direction. But when the offseason hit, the Pirates took a step back.
The team barely did anything in free agency, picking up veterans like Tommy Pham and Andrew Heaney. Pham was a solid pickup, but for him to be the team’s leadoff hitter on Opening Day is not good. Heaney will serve as the fourth starter in the rotation and is not a league-changing pickup.
The starting rotation is the only bright spot on this team, and it still is not good. The team is like the Angels in the 2010s: They had Mike Trout and nobody else. The Pirates have Skenes as their ace, but behind him there is not much. Keller is decent, but he is not what he used to be, and Jared Jones will start his sophomore season on the injury list with an elbow injury.
Bailey Falter will be the third starter, which is not good at all. At the beginning of the offseason, many fans thought he would be the fifth starter or even get bumped into the bullpen. Heaney will be the fourth and following him is Carmen Mlodzinski, who got moved to the rotation from the bullpen.
The hitting is almost the same. Pham replaces Bryan De La Cruz, and Endy Rodriguez will be playing first, along with being the backup catcher.
This offseason, the Pirates made a big trade, getting young first baseman Spencer Horwitz from the Guardians. They gave up three young pitchers, with one being starter Luis Ortiz. Getting rid of Ortiz put a hole into the rotation, and with Jones’ injury, the hole is even more apparent. Even though the team got Horwitz, he is injured and will not be the starting first baseman to begin the season.
It is shaping up that Rodriguez and Jared Triolo will platoon at first, which is not ideal. Rodriguez did not play last year due to an injury, and Triolo is not a good hitter. The only reason why Triolo is on the team is because he won a Gold Glove as a utility player last year, and if they play him at first, that Gold Glove fielding is mostly wasted.
Overall, the Pirates are not looking good. Other than pitching, there are no prospects to look forward to, and it seems that the team has gotten worse since the end of last year.
