{"id":62298,"date":"2025-08-12T10:26:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/62298\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T10:26:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:26:24","slug":"cherington-pirates-expect-to-pursue-infield-help-in-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/62298\/","title":{"rendered":"Cherington: Pirates Expect To Pursue Infield Help In Offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pirates\u2019 2026 infield figures to look considerably different than the group that\u2019s been trotted out for much of the season. Pittsburgh succeeded in shedding all of the money owed to third baseman Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes<\/a> beyond the current season when they shipped him to the Reds prior to the trade deadline, and veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a> is a free agent at season\u2019s end. The Bucs have plenty of young infielders who could step up and get looks next year, but general manager Ben Cherington acknowledged this weekend that some offseason additions could be on the horizon (link via Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Though he didn\u2019t make any definitive declarations, Cherington noted that he \u201cwould expect we would\u201d add to the infield in some capacity. That comment came amid a broader discussion of Jared Triolo<\/a>\u2019s defensive versatility. Triolo isn\u2019t hitting at all this season but has played quality defense at first base, second base and third base while even showing the ability to handle shortstop on occasion. Cherington suggested that Triolo \u201cat least \u2026 part of a shortstop solution\u201d as an option the Pirates could consider.<\/p>\n

Triolo\u2019s ability to play anywhere at a relatively high defensive level is a nice perk, but if he\u2019s to be a real part of the Bucs\u2019 solution around the infield, he\u2019ll need to show more offense. The 27-year-old instilled hope in Pirates fans with a .298\/.388\/.398 slash in 209 plate appearances as a rookie in 2023, but that production was propped up by a colossal .440 average on balls in play. Triolo has predictably regressed since that time, recording just a .204\/.290\/.304 line (67 wRC+) in a much larger sample of 641 plate appearances.<\/p>\n

Developing hitters has been an immense struggle for Pittsburgh \u2014 a problem that spans multiple front office leaders and multiple iterations of the dugout staff. The emergence of recurring back injuries for Hayes has played a part in that, but he\u2019s just one of several notable Pirates position prospects who simply haven\u2019t been able to hit in the majors.<\/p>\n

Henry Davis<\/a>, Liover Peguero<\/a>, Travis Swaggerty<\/a>, Endy Rodriguez<\/a> and Ji Hwan Bae<\/a> have all struggled upon reaching the majors. Nick Gonzales<\/a> has been a bit better than league average at the plate this season, which makes him one of the system\u2019s most prominent success stories in recent years. Other top prospects like Termarr Johnson<\/a> and Lonnie White<\/a> Jr. have seen their stock take a major hit as their bats have slowed in recent minor league seasons.<\/p>\n

The lack of development among the team\u2019s young position players leaves the Pirates with glaring needs up and down the roster. Among Pirates hitters with at least 100 plate appearances this season, only Gonzales (104 wRC+) and Spencer Horwitz<\/a> (102 wRC+) have provided even average offensive output. Oneil Cruz<\/a> was hot earlier in the season but has fallen off considerably since early June.<\/p>\n

It leaves the left side of the infield, in particular, wide open. Kiner-Falefa spoke to Gorman and indicated an openness to returning, perhaps with more time at the hot corner, but said he\u2019ll leave any such discussions to his agent and Cherington in the offseason.<\/p>\n

The Pirates do have some hope on the horizon \u2014\u00a0 and meaningful hope, at that. Nineteen-year-old Konnor Griffin<\/a> currently ranks as the No. 1 prospect in the entire sport over at Baseball America. Last year\u2019s No. 9 overall pick has split the season between Class-A and High-A, hitting a combined .332\/.410\/.532 with 16 home runs and 53 steals in 438 plate appearances \u2014 all against older and more advance competition. It seems unlikely that he\u2019d be pushed to the majors early next year, but later on in the 2026 season and certainly in 2027, Griffin could be an option at shortstop if he can remain healthy and if the Pirates can finish off his development in a way that\u2019s eluded them with countless other prospects.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh was never going to make a play for a multi-year option at shortstop in free agency anyhow. As MLBTR\u2019s Contract Tracker shows<\/a>, the Bucs haven\u2019t signed any free agent to a multi-year deal since giving a three-year contract to righty Ivan Nova<\/a> back in December of 2016. In general, it\u2019s a light class for free agent infielders anyhow, with Bo Bichette<\/a> and Alex Bregman<\/a> standing head and shoulders above the rest of the group (and, obviously, miles out of the Pirates\u2019 financial comfort zone). Eugenio Su\u00e1rez<\/a> will be a free agent as well, but he\u2019ll be well beyond the Pirates\u2019 comfort levels.<\/p>\n

That said, exploring the trade market will be a feasible option. The Pirates are deep in young pitching. Paul Skenes<\/a> and Bubba Chandler<\/a> won\u2019t be going anywhere, but Pittsburgh also has names like Mike Burrows<\/a>, Braxton Ashcraft<\/a>, Thomas Harrington<\/a>, Johan Oviedo<\/a>, Hunter Barco<\/a> and, of course, veteran Mitch Keller<\/a> as options to potentially bring in some infield talent at either left-side position. Any help would be sorely needed.<\/p>\n

Pirates shortstops this season have combined for an awful .246\/.292\/.315, translating to a 69 wRC+ (i.e. 31% worse than league-average at the plate) that ranks 27th in MLB. Third base has been even worse. Hayes, Kiner-Falefa and Triolo have combined to hit .229\/.280\/.299 while manning the hot corner. No team in baseball has a lower wRC+ from their collective group of third basemen than Pittsburgh\u2019s 60. The Reds \u2014 the team that acquired Hayes \u2014 are next-lowest at 65.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pirates\u2019 2026 infield figures to look considerably different than the group that\u2019s been trotted out for much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,50181,44457,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-62298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-isiah-kiner-falefa","11":"tag-jared-triolo","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}