What players are being 'linked' to the Pittsburgh Pirates?

MLBTR released their top free agents, and their projected teams, with the Pirates mentioned a couple of times

I’m not a big free agent/offseason guy; I want to get back to games being played on the field. As someone whose ‘go-to’ thing is breakdown articles, that’s a little harder to do when games aren’t played.

When it comes down to it, I’m not a big ‘this team should sign this player’ or ‘he’d be a perfect fit’ guy, as honestly, no matter who they bring in, it doesn’t change how I cover the team.

That being said, I put my input on the areas they could improve this offseason, and I can react to what others say.

Pirates offseason watch: What do they need to address?

MLB Trade Rumors released their Top 50 free agents on Monday, predicting where they will sign. It’s a great breakdown; not surprisingly, you will end up scrolling a bit before the Pirates are mentioned.

Here’s a breakdown of the four players (plus a bonus) that at least one writer there predicted the Pirates would sign, plus my input on that player.

Jack Flaharty

This one grew on me the more I started reading into it, as I was originally not the biggest fan of this happening.

MLBTR predicts a 3-year/$40 million contract for the 28-year-old Flaherty, a reasonable price for an established middle-to-back-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. He put up a 4.99 ERA in 144.1 innings pitched last year, but the numbers suggest he played better than that (4.36 xFIP).

He also put up an identical 1.8 WAR (on FanGraphs) to Johan Oviedo, giving you an idea of the potential production.

According to Baseball Savant, Flaharty is a fastball-heavy pitcher, using his four-seam 41% of the time last year. There’s a good reason, as he put up some tremendous underlying metrics with the pitch.

There were 41 starting pitchers to throw at least 1,000 four-seam fastballs, and among them, Flaherty had the;

Seventh lowest In-Zone Contact rate (53.3%)

Sixth lowest Barrel rate

Third lowest Hard Hit rate

Eighth lowest 95th percentile Exit Velocity against.

Hitters didn’t make much contact, and when they did, it was on the weaker end. A big part of that was due to his Horizontal Angle Approach (HAA) and Horizontal Release Point, which will be touched on later this week.

He throws enough pitches to work things out when he isn’t using the fastball, but after some hesitation, I am growing into this as a potential move for the Pirates.

Sean Manaea

Last year, he was tossed into the ‘soft-tossing lefty reclamation’ projects along with Rich Hill, with the Pirates signing the latter.

The velocity jumped back up for Manaea, but that could also be because he pitched primarily out of the bullpen last year.

Some of the underlying stuff is interesting enough to be interesting, depending on whether or not it carries over back into the rotation.

This has potential, but it is still more likely a step down than what you could get in Flaherty.

Jason Heyward

Going back to what I wrote on Monday, Heyward would improve the defense, as he had a +6 Outs Above Average (OAA) on Baseball Savant, which would have been the best mark in the Pirates’ outfield last year.

He could slide in and take over the right-field position that could be opened up if Henry Davis slides back behind the plate.

Heyward originally signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers before making the Opening Day roster and running away with a starting spot. His exit velocity numbers would make me wonder if he reaches 15 home runs again, but he’s a high-contact guy who will play great defense.

MLBTR predicts his contract to be around $16 million over two years.

Brandon Belt

The Pirates went into last season to platoon the first base position between Ji-Man Choi and Carlos Santana, which it’s never a bad idea to try and maximize the value of the players you bring in.

Of course, injuries derailed that plan and forced Santana into primary duties, with Connor Joe spelling him.

So, ideally, the Pirates find a first baseman who can play every day, but if they decide to go the platoon route again - Belt would be the perfect candidate. Belt posted a .890 OPS against righties last year and was still an elite contact hitter, as he’s been the majority of his career.

The Pirates will have to open up their wallets to get him signed, but they don’t have a lot committed to this upcoming season, and it won’t nearly be as expensive as it would be if they started to chase home runs (Rhys Hoskins).

Bonus: Amed Rosario

This one was interesting to see, and to be technical; it wasn’t a ‘prediction’ on the part of MLBTR. They did mention the Pirates as a team that ‘could’ be in the market for a middle infielder.

I don’t know if that should be Rosario, but I believe the Pirates should add a middle infielder this offseason.

They have plenty of options, but outside of Jared Triolo’s small sample size, I don’t know if anyone jumped out and ‘claimed’ the spot going into next year.

The Pirates were exposed last year for not having another established middle infield option, as after Oneil Cruz was hurt, they had to scramble for alternatives.

Rosario had a ‘down year’ and still posted an 88 wRC+, which was better than every other player already on the roster and could be an option at a second other than Triolo.

It’d be a one-year deal to help rebuild value, but the Pirates could use that to their advantage and maybe give a challenge to some of their young players looking to establish a role on the team.

This is a big offseason for Ben Cherington and the Pirates. They jumped up into the 70s for wins and will look to take an even more significant step in year five.

They have some pieces to build around but need to add from outside the organization to round out the roster.