2024-25 MLB Offseason Recap: Pittsburgh Pirates

Pirates fans had a lot to feel good about last season. Jared Jones and Paul Skenes became impact pitchers, and while the Pirates won 76 games, were competitive headed into the summer last year. So, what did the Pirates do to improve their roster this winter?

Notable Additions

• RP Caleb Ferguson (-0.5 bWAR in 2024)
• INF Adam Frazier (0.3 bWAR)
• SP Andrew Heaney (0.7 bWAR)
• INF Spencer Horwitz (1.2 bWAR)
• RP Tim Mayza (-1.2 bWAR)
• OF Tommy Pham (-0.2 bWAR)

The Pirates weren’t big-time spenders this winter, opting to grab veterans on short-term deals.

Pittsburgh grabbed a couple of lefties, Caleb Ferguson and Tim Mayza, both of whom had down years.

Ferguson bounced around between Houston and New York (AL) but can still throw a great cutter (.130 opp. AVG, 33.6% Whiff% in 2024) and mixed in a slurve-ish breaking ball into his arsenal. Mayza, meanwhile, was a reliable reliever for the Blue Jays last season before an implosion in 2024.

The Pirates also added starter Andrew Heaney, a trippy lefty with a good fastball and solid secondary stuff. Heaney ate a lot of innings — 307.1 IP, to be exact — over his two years with the Rangers. That should be the case in 2025, as Heaney slides in to bridge between the Pirates’ other young arms waiting for their call.

As for the bats, Pittsburgh re-united with former All-Star Adam Frazier. The Pirates also brought in Tommy Pham, a versatile outfielder who can make hard contact and get on base. But the most notable addition was Spencer Horwitz, picked up from Cleveland after the Guardians acquired him in the Andres Gimenez.

It’s easy to dream on Horwitz’s bat in PNC Park. He’s not a plus power bat per se, though, as Horwitz is a finesse hitter who’s got good fundamentals with keeping the shoulders from pulling off too early and he kept the hands in quite a bit in 2024. That led to a lot of opposite-field hits.