Tag Archives: Five Pirates Thoughts at Five

Can you believe we’re already here? We’re already way into the offseason, the leaves have mostly all fallen, the turkey’s are mostly already in the fridge thawing out and grandmas around the country are receiving phone calls cause they’re the only ones who know that one ingredient in the dish everyone has to have to make it a holiday.

This deadline in MLB’s offseason probably won’t be all that eventful for the Pirates. They took care of most of their pressing Rule 5 protections in 2023 during the season, so what they have left on the table barely moves the needle. I’ve touched on who they might protect, who they might move if they need more room in previous editions of this feature, and today, we’ll talk about it from a different angle along with a bunch more.

For the first time in quite a few seasons, the Pirates have a good base of young talent in place, more on the way, money to spend and a stated goal of winning in the next season. We have our own hurt feelings, letdowns, mistrust of the regime. We have the history of not doing enough, or choosing poorly when reaching.

This is probably the last week before some of our questions start getting answered. It’ll start out slow with easy ones like declining the option on Jarlin Garcia and quickly move on to purging the 40-man to fit back in the 60-day IL guys and on to the non-tender deadline from there.

The playoffs are nearing conclusion and we’ll soon know the World Series combatants. Will it be the Phillies and Astros in a rematch, or will the Upstart Diamondbacks chin up to the defending NL Champs? Maybe those Rangers want their share of the Lone Star State’s baseball pride. One thing’s for sure, all of this has my head spinning thinking about the off season, and what a big one it is for this franchise.

It’s that time again, and I’m still not struggling to think of things to talk about. Maybe by January I’ll be running dry.

If the Pirates execute this off season, and get at least a little more lucky on the injury front in 2024, good shot the Pirates will at least get a taste of post season ball.

This offseason, the payroll will increase. Some players will be rewarded in arbitration, probably looking at another extension or two and yes, they’ll have to add payroll either in free agency or via trades.

The Pirates will finish the season with a losing record, just clinched that yesterday with their loss to the Reds. That said, the Pirates have done some excellent work in the second half of the season, much of it by guys who matter too.