Morning Rundown: Pirates 'showed interest' in Josh Naylor, massive contract for Ohtani

The Pirates showed interest in trading for Josh Naylor during the Winter Meetings.

It’s hard to tell just how true some rumors are, as sometimes it’s clear that certain ones come out solely as a negotiation tactic.

Still, it’s interesting that the Pirates have a very specific need at first base, and a few days after the Winter Meetings end, it comes out that they ‘showed interest’ in Josh Naylor of the Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland.com reported.

The left-handed hitting Naylor has hit 37 home runs, driven in 176 runs over the last two seasons, and has two years of control left.

That’s the kind of production that the Pirates could use in their lineup, but it would seem odd that the Guardians are looking to move one of their more productive offensive threats, especially after finishing 27th in runs last season.

They did acquire Kyle Manzardo, one of the best-hitting prospects in the game, who also plays first base. However, he’s far from a guarantee, as he finished with a collective wRC+ of 97 in Triple-A last year in both the Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays systems.

While the Pirates certainly need a first baseman, you can argue that pitching is still a more pressing need when allocating whatever funds (whether it be dollars or prospects capital) are available to them this offseason.

Someone like Naylor won’t come cheap, but would be a big boost for the Pirates lineup.

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The biggest news on Saturday was that Shohei Ohtani signed the biggest contract in baseball history, staying in Los Angeles but going to the Dodgers on a 10-year, $700 million contract.

Ohtani is coming off a year where he hit 44 home runs and won 10 games on the mound. Of course, it will have to be seen how he does pitching after undergoing Tommy John for the second time in his career, and he won’t pitch in 2024.

Even without him pitching, he’s still one of the elite hitters in the game and will pencil into a lineup that includes Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

The contract is set up to help the Dodgers still try and compete while he’s there, with a huge amount of the money deferred to later years.

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