Bucs stay busy, agree to deal with Ozuna (source)

The Pirates have added a much-needed right-handed power bat for the middle of their order -- agreeing to a one-year, $12 million deal with slugger Marcell Ozuna on Monday, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

The club has not confirmed the deal, which includes a $16 million mutual option for 2027 and a $1.5 million buyout, per Feinsand. The deal is pending a physical.

Ozuna is the third big addition to Pittsburgh's lineup entering 2026. The Pirates had already acquired slugging second baseman Brandon Lowe from the Rays in a three-team trade and signed 2025 All-Star Ryan O'Hearn in free agency.

The Pirates have had an active offseason all-around, also adding pitchers like Gregory Soto and Mason Montgomery to the bullpen and reportedly adding veteran starter José Urquidy to the rotation on a one-year deal.

Ozuna could platoon at designated hitter with the left-handed-hitting O'Hearn, but it seems more likely that the Pirates would give Ozuna the everyday DH reps and play O'Hearn in the corner outfield. While O'Hearn has primarily been a first baseman in his career, he has also played both left field and right field at times.

The 35-year-old Ozuna is a three-time All-Star -- most recently in 2024 with the Braves -- and a two-time Silver Slugger. He had a slight down year by his own standards last season, but still belted 21 home runs for Atlanta, his fourth consecutive 20-homer season.

Between Ozuna (21 homers in 2025), Lowe (31 homers) and O'Hearn (17 homers), the Pirates have injected a lot of power into their lineup for 2026. That's important for a Pittsburgh team that hit the fewest home runs in the Majors last season (117) and finished last in slugging percentage (.350) and OPS (.655).

That trio of newcomers will join mainstays Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Spencer Horwitz in the top part of the Pirates' batting order, which will give the team a much deeper lineup than it had in 2025 -- with MLB's No. 1 overall prospect, Konnor Griffin, also waiting in the wings.

And although last season might not have been Ozuna's best, in 2023 and '24, he was one of the top sluggers in the National League. Ozuna had 40 home runs, 100 RBIs and a .905 OPS in 2023, and 39 home runs, 104 RBIs and a .925 OPS in 2024, finishing fourth in the NL MVP voting.

Last year, the full-time DH finished with a .232 batting average, the 21 homers, 68 RBIs and a .756 OPS. At least some of the decline from the previous two seasons can be attributed to a right hip issue that plagued Ozuna at times in the first half, which likely contributed to his hard-hit rate dropping from 53.4% in 2024 to 44.6% in '25.

But even as he struggled to replicate his previous power numbers, Ozuna remained an above-average hitter. He finished with a 113 OPS+ (meaning he was 13% better than league average), helped greatly by an elite 15.9% walk rate that fueled a .355 on-base percentage.

Even including that "down" year in 2025, Ozuna has averaged 33 homers and more than 90 RBIs the past three seasons.

Ozuna received a qualifying offer from the Cardinals after the 2019 season, making him ineligible to get one in 2025. Thus, there is no Draft-pick compensation attached to him, or penalty for signing him.