Pirates Projected To Regress In 2025
On the heels of back-to-back 76-86 seasons, many hoped the Pittsburgh Pirates would be aggressive in trying to build a good team around Paul Skenes after his historic rookie season and a pitching staff that could soon be one of baseball's best.
Instead, Pittsburgh stuck with the status quo, making mostly minor moves that don't exactly move the needle, meaning it'll be leaning heavily on players turning things around this season after lackluster performances in 2024. Projecting players to get back on track is difficult, though, and as the old adage goes, if you aren't doing anything to get better, you're getting worse.
With the Pirates not making any significant moves to improve the bullpen or offense, ESPN's Bradford Doolittle to regress and win 73 games, which is the fifth-lowest in baseball.
"Why, Pirates, why?" Doolittle writes. "Paul-freaking-Skenes enters his first full MLB season with new pitches and the same old stuff, heading up a rotation that, a year from now, might be the best in the game. But such windows, when opened by a sudden outburst of pitching, are fleeting. With this staff, in this NL Central, and a throwback payroll outlook, this was the time to spend, spend, spend. But the Pirates, didn't, didn't, didn't. Instead, they traded for Spencer Horwitz, who is already hurt. So it goes."
😳 https://t.co/qcsUoR7NBM pic.twitter.com/vyaPRCj9f4
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 16, 2025
The Pirates acquired left-handed hitting first baseman Spencer Horwitz from the Cleveland Guardians in December. Horwitz needed surgery at the beginning of February on his right wrist and was projected to miss six to eight weeks. In 97 games for the Toronto Blue Jays last season, Horwitz, 27, batted .265/.357/.433 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs.
The Pirates' offense was among the worst in baseball last season, ranking in the bottom 10 in nearly every major stat. While Horwitz could definitely improve Pittsburgh at the plate, expecting him to be the piece that gets them over the hump is a lot of pressure for a player who has only played 112 games in the big leagues.
Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller and eventually Bubba Chandler could give the Pirates one of baseball's best starting rotations. Unfortunately, that won't mean much if Pittsburgh can't consistently scratch runs across the plate. And if they have that same issue this season, the Pirates could be facing another lost season with Skenes in 2025.
