The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired 2B Brandon Lowe, OF Jake Mangum and RP Mason Montgomery from the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday in a blockbuster three-team deal. It's the first sign (aside from a failed run at Kyle Schwarber) that the Buccos are serious about contending in 2026. The clock is already ticking on Paul Skenes' contract, after all.
Lowe is a major talent and the exact sort of power influx this Pirates lineup needs, but he's also not enough to establish Pittsburgh as a contender — not on his own. GM Ben Cherington needs to keep hammering phone lines in search of the next move. Here are a few viable options.
Pirates can sign INF Luis Arráez
There are plenty of arguments against Luis Arráez, who very much feels like the last remnant of a bygone era. He's a bad defender, a sluggish base-runner, and he has produced a grand total of 30 home runs over his last four seasons — a 595-game stretch.
Arráez is MLB's last "great" contact hitter. It's really his only specialty. He won't drive a ton of extra-base hits or apply pressure with his speed, but he can drop a bloop single into left field like nobody's business. He finished last season with a .719 OPS and 99 OPS+, with a new career-low .292 average. That is essentially the floor for Arráez, who even in better years occupied MLB's bottom percentile for hard contact rate.
He's out of style, sure, but Arráez is also a 28-year-old with three All-Stars and three batting titles to his name. There's something there. Before this past season, Arráez stacked three straight campaigns with above-.300 averages, including a gobsmacking .354 average with Miami in 2022.
Pittsburgh just needs some measure of consistent production offensively. Brandon Lowe helps — and provides a lot of pop, which is helpful — but the Pirates need more players who can just find their way on base and sustain runs. Arráez feels like an extremely cheap option relative to his baseline production. Pittsburgh can have him split time between first base and DH without sacrificing much flexibility.
Pirates can trade for OF Jasson Domínguez
If the New York Yankees re-sign Cody Bellinger on his preferred six- or seven-year deal, it does not bode well for Jasson Domínguez's future in the organization. Especially with Spencer Jones coming through the pipeline and due for his MLB call-up. It's abundantly clear that New York really didn't want Trent Grisham to pick up his qualifying offer, but he did, and thus New York's outfield logjam persists.
Domínguez has been extremely volatile through his first couple seasons at the MLB level, but it's worth remembering that he's 22. Most players his age are still in Double-A. The Yankees started the clock on Domínguez early and have come to regret it. This is a bad situation, but it's also a potential garbage-into-gold conversion for the Pirates.
There are vast defensive concerns with Domínguez, but Pittsburgh can keep the DH slot open by simply not re-signing (or regularly starting) Andrew McCutchen. And, again, he's 22, so defensive improvement is not out of the question. Offensive improvement is damn near a guarantee.
Yes, Domínguez incurs a hefty swing-and-miss toll. But he also hits the baseball extremely hard and commands the zone well enough for a 9.6 percent walk rate. Domínguez finished last season with a .719 OPS and 101 OPS+, marking him just above-average at the plate. Only three current Pirates — Bryan Reynolds, Spencer Horwitz and the newly acquired Brandon Lowe — posted an OPS of .700-plus last season. Domínguez immediately becomes one of Pittsburgh's best bats, with room to grow.
Pirates can sign DH Marcell Ozuna
Another budget-conscious free agent option for the Pirates. Marcell Ozuna faded from Atlanta's lineup at times last season as the Braves sought more at-bats for Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy. And yet, despite a slow start to the year and an inconsistent role, Ozuna finished with respectable numbers: .756 OPS, 113 OPS+, 21 home runs, 68 RBI.
He's a 35-year-old righty DH, so the market is understandably tepid. That could play right into Pittsburgh's hands. Ozuna is quite possibly the best hitter on the Pirates roster from day one. The veteran is on the decline, sure, but he's also a single year removed from finishing fourth in NL MVP voting with a .925 OPS and 39 home runs. Folks might be writing him off a bit too soon.
A lot of teams just don't have space for a DH-only bat like this, but Pittsburgh very much does. This does limit their flexibility with Lowe, Reynolds and other middling defenders, but with Paul Skenes and company on the mound, the Pirates can honestly afford subpar defense. What Pittsburgh needs most of all is genuine, run-scoring pop. Ozuna and Lowe could add 60-plus home runs in a good year.
This is only a short-term arrangement — probably a year or two at most — but if Ozuna is the bridge piece until Pittsburgh can find a more sustainable cleanup-type bat, so be it. That's a good signing.
Pirates can trade for 1B Bryce Eldridge
The San Francisco Giants' decision to not only trade for Rafael Devers, but to wholly invest in his transition to first base, as left top prospect Bryce Eldridge in limbo. There are solutions to this problem if the Giants are committed to solving them. Eldridge has a great arm for right field. He can split DH and first base reps with Devers. It's not like San Francisco is without a spot for him on the roster. And yet, his name has popped up in trade rumors — a notable bit of smoke.
This just feels like a dream opportunity for Pittsburgh. The Pirates are becoming less afraid to elevate young talent, as evidenced by reports of 19-year-old Konnor Griffin competing for his spot on the Opening Day roster. Eldridge is 20, and he's a career 3-for-28 hitter at the MLB level. The résumé is slight. But he's also one of the 20-odd best prospects in baseball, with the sort of raw power this Pirates lineup craves.
Eldridge produced an absurd 68.8 percent hard contact rate in his brief MLB call-up last season. That would leave the league by a comfortable margin if extrapolated across an entire season. Eldridge probably can't sustain that exact number for 162 games, but he won't hit .107 with a .179 slugging percentage either. Eldridge's expected average (.181) and expected slugging (.496), while nothing special, are proof that he endured a lot of bad luck in 10 games with the big-league squad.
As the 6-foot-7 lefty continues to refine his plate approach against MLB pitching, the results will follow soon enough. Eldridge has a chance to hit 30, even 40-plus homers at his peak, and Pittsburgh would be wise to make sure that peak aligns with Konnor Griffin and Paul Skenes, if at all possible.
Pirates can trade for 2B Ketel Marte
The Pirates should still place their bid for Ketel Marte. The Lowe trade is a slight complicating factor, but Lowe was statistically the worst defensive second baseman in the AL last season at -13 outs above average. Pittsburgh can plug him and Marte into a weighted DH-2B exchange and live with the fruitful results.
The Arizona Diamondbacks want to add pitching. Pittsburgh has as much MLB-ready pitching talent in its pipeline as any team. Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington, Carmen Mlodzinski — the Pirates can whet Arizona's appetite quite fully. Marte is a rare breed of trade candidate, still in his prime window and under club control through 2031 at an exceedingly affordable rate. It's not clear why the D'Backs are even considering a trade, beyond vague reports of clubhouse strife.
Marte is a solid defensive second baseman and a legitimate five-tool star. He finished this past season with an .893 OPS and 145 OPS+, notching 28 home runs and 72 RBI. The season prior, he finished third in NL MVP voting. Marte is 32 years old, so the lifespan of that contract merits consideration. But he's never slated to make north of $22 million in a single season, which falls well short of the lofty contract standards for most stars of Marte's caliber. Marte will make $11.5 million in his age-37 season, if Pittsburgh picks up the club option. Trea Turner will make $27.3 million in his age-40 season.
This is an expense that Pittsburgh can easily justify, especially after putting four years and $120 million on the table for Kyle Schwarber. Marte would prove to fans — and to Paul Skenes — that the Pirates are finally serious about winning ballgames.