3 free agents Pirates can sign to compete in the NL Central in 2025

The Pittsburgh Pirates landed a generational talent with the first overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft when they selected Paul Skenes. It took Skenes almost no time at all to show up and make a huge difference for the Pirates. But a pitcher like Skenes doesn't come around often.

Since the Pirates have him, they need to take full advantage in trying to win right now while they have one of the best pitchers in the game. Knowing the Pirates ownership, it's unlikely that they will extend Skenes past his arbitration years, though crazier things have happened in sports.

Nonetheless, the Pirates need to be active in free agency this Winter, looking to acquire a few names, if they want to seriously contend in the NL Central next season.

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3 free agents Pirates can sign to compete in the NL Central in 2025

3. OF Jesse Winker

The Pittsburgh Pirates need to add offense more than anything. Their pitching staff is young and talented. They have more top prospects that look to be on the way towards making a difference at the big league level. The bullpen could always use some help, but the main hole for the Pirates has been their lack of impact bats.

Given their ownership, they're going to be looking for budget bats. They won't be willing to spend upwards of $20 million a year on one player, so landing on an outfielder like Jesse Winker, who's one of the premier platoon bats in the league, would make a ton of sense.

Winker slashed .253/.360/.405 with 14 home runs this season. He did most of his damage against right handed pitching, as he has always done in the past. Winker isn't an elite defender, but he's an elite hitter that brings a special energy with him. He wouldn't be too expensive to run out of the Pirates price range.

Pittsburgh will have to spend a bit more than they're used to if they want to build a team around Skenes. A good place to start would be with Winker.

It also helps that Winker has a well-documented hatred of the NL Central leaders, the Milwaukee Brewers.

2. C Elias Diaz

If there was a massive hole on the Pirates roster this season, it was at catcher. Endy Rodriguez missed the entire season with an injury. Henry Davis was quite a disappointing option that Pittsburgh couldn't rely on. Yasmani Grandal is too slow and poor defensively to be a consistent catching option. Joey Bart was really the only consistent catcher that the team had. With it being such a physically demanding position, the Pirates have the option to roster three catchers next season since they don't have an everyday DH. This would allow them to rotate three catchers between catching, resting and DH.

Grandal has to be headed out the door. In his place could be free agent catcher, Elias Diaz. Last season, Diaz slashed .265/.313/.382 with 20 doubles. He's a solid defensive catcher as well, but the main selling point for the Pirates is that he would in their price range.

Pittsburgh can't rely on Rodriguez and Davis to both be healthy, consistent and improving next season. In a perfect world, those two, alongside Bart, would be the perfect Pirates catching room. But a utopia like this hasn't existed in Pittsburgh yet, so the Pirates may want to look at a cheap option like Diaz.

1. RHP Jeff Hoffman

The Pirates bullpen was a consistent failure all season long, even with their closer David Bednar. They had a ton of underachieving arms that blew a ton of games for the team.

A good chunk of the Pirates bullpen is either not good enough to be brought back next year or they're entering unrestricted free agency. The front office could completely clean house in the bullpen this Winter.

Pittsburgh will be looking to add to their bullpen in free agency, with a pitcher like veteran righty Jeff Hoffman making a ton of sense.

Last year, Hoffman made 68 appearances for 66.1 innings. He held a 2.17 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP on the season as he was named to his first career All-Star Game. Hoffman was reliable from start to finish in the regular season for the Phillies.

Based on his recent playoff struggles, the Phillies may not want to bring him back if they need to overpay to get him. The Pirates could swoop in and add a very talented releiver to the backend of their bullpen. They did this with Aroldis Chapman last year, allocating $10 million to him. They could find a couple million dollars to bring Hoffman in, if they're serious about winning.