Pirates Insider: Six questions that must be answered this offseason

The emergence of eight young, controllable players in 2026 helped the Pirates answer plenty of questions.

Konnor Griffin, Esmerlyn Valdez, Rafael Flores Jr. and Endy Rodriguez on the position-player side. Braxton Ashcraft, Mason Montgomery, Jared Jones and Bubba Chandler among pitchers. That’s more than 15 wins above replacement (per FanGraphs) coming from players with scant service time, relatively speaking.

But the same for most teams that miss the postseason, plenty of questions remain. Here are six that must be answered as the Pirates exit 2026 and shift their focus toward next season.

Will there be baseball in 2027?

There’s no way anyone can accurately answer this on Sept. 29, and it’s certainly not solely on the Pirates. But it’s impossible to ignore.

The threat or possibility of a lockout will force every MLB team to operate differently this winter, from how it might affect offseason training and communication with players to front offices potentially wanting to strike early, before the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

Bottom line, nobody knows. And it’s how the other side looks that could matter the most for the Pirates — if there’s a cap and floor and how seriously baseball’s economic landscape changes.

What happens with Brandon Lowe?

As far as storylines on a local level, the Pirates’ biggest offseason one isn’t hard to figure out. It’s whether the organization and Lowe can come together on a potential contract extension.

Lowe turned 32 in July and was worth a career-high 4.9 fWAR, the result of 35 home runs, 65 extra-base hits and 96 RBIs. A free agent for the first time after playing the final year of a six-year, $24 million contract he signed with the Rays in 2019, Lowe has earned a hefty payday.

Most projections sit around three years, $60 million total, but it’s rarely that simple. Will someone offer Lowe a fourth year, paying him through his age 36 season? Does Lowe want to play for a team that made the postseason more recently than 2015?

“We need to learn more about what opportunities are out there for us, and he’s put himself in a strong position, too,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “More to learn on that front, but it would be a great outcome if he’s a Pirate. Think the world of him and the job he’s done.”

How much movement on the pitching front?

The Pirates lost two prominent pitching voices over the past year in Jeremy Bleich and Josh Hopper. Bleich was titled director of pitching development, working across all levels and serving as one of the leading voices behind their recent success. He took an assistant general manager role with the Diamondbacks last December.

Meanwhile, Josh Hopper was the Pirates’ coordinator of pitching development and oversaw plenty on the Minor League side. He left the Pirates in June to return to the college ranks, joining Coastal Carolina as its pitching coach. This follows the resignation of Thomas Whitsett, who resigned as assistant pitching coach in February.

Cherington spoke Saturday about his confidence in new pitching coach Bill Murphy. But Cherington also wants to improve the structure around Murphy.

“There’s nothing done by one person in baseball,” Cherington said. “It’s a team of people. We just know a lot more than we did 12 months ago about what that team needs to look around Murph.”

It’s also not just coaches or development people.

The Pirates saw younger pitchers like Wilber Dotel, Khristian Curtis, Antwone Kelly and Hunter Barco have success at various times this season. They could be part of a longer-term solution.

However, the Pirates could’ve used a veteran lefty in their rotation, a Jose Quintana type, and they’ll need to replace Gregory Soto among relievers. Adding pitching depth must be a focus of the offseason on a few different levels.

Who’s the starting catcher?

Good question. Not a clear-cut answer, although it would be hard to turn away the offense provided by Rafael Flores Jr.

From Aug. 13 — the Marlins game where he erupted for two homers and six RBI — on, Flores had the 11th-best slugging percentage (.561) in MLB. Only Oneil Cruz (.921) and Lowe (.908) had a higher OPS than Flores (.887) during that time among Pirates.

Meanwhile, Henry Davis has proven himself to be one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. He finished the year with a mark of 8 defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs. Only five catchers in either league fared better. (Flores was worth 1 DRS, tied for 23rd among the 72 with at least 200 innings caught.)

What does all of that mean? Well, the Pirates are actually in a solid spot with their catchers, who combined to produced the ninth-best wRC+ (102) in MLB and hit 29 homers (fifth).

But they probably need to decide whether Rodriguez would be better suited at another position and whether they should split reps between Flores and Davis or explore a trade.

Finding consistency

The Pirates were among the MLB leaders when it came to year-over-year jumps in runs, home runs, OPS and run differential. Their offense was undoubtedly better in 2026. But it needs to be more consistent.

Here’s what I mean: Pittsburgh scored seven or more runs 47 times, tied for the second-most in baseball. They were also shut out 15 times, which was tied for the third-most. Smooth it out some.

The easy piece: improving against left-handed pitching after the Pirates went 18-33 against lefty starters and had a .701 OPS overall against southpaws(19th in MLB).

“We’d like to be more consistent,” Cherington said. “You look at roster construction first. What do we need to do to build a roster that gives us the best chance to be more consistent every game in terms of run-scoring?

“Then you look at approach and ask, ‘How can we be better at designing a game plan to beat that pitcher today?’ We’ll look at all of that.”

Solidifying roles

Nick Gonzales became the first Pirate to hit .300 or better since Bryan Reynolds in 2021. He led the team with 167 hits and produced 55 multi-hit games, fourth-most in MLB and the most in Pittsburgh since Andrew McCutchen’s 60 in 2013.

Gonzales also doesn’t have a position. The Pirates tried Gonzales at third base to keep his bat in the lineup, but the result was a -15 DRS, fourth-worst in MLB. If the Pirates can’t re-sign Lowe, Gonzales moving to second makes sense. They can try to add back some of those homers at third.

“We might not know until later in the offseason,” Cherington said. “Believe in him as a player. Believe every time his back has been against the wall, he's fought back and found a way to improve. He was asked to do something really hard this year. He was asked to play third base, which he really hadn't done much of.

“We just need more information on what the roster looks like, but as soon as we have more clarity, we'll deliver it to him. And when he's had clarity, he's usually done good things.”

The other question mark is Carmen Mlodzinski. Cherington said it’s too early to say whether he’ll be a starter or reliever in 2027. That’s a reasonable answer for September, but at some point a decision needs to be made.

If Mlodzinski is a back-end reliever, great. He’s been really good there. But if that’s not the case, because he wants and/or there’s trade value worth exploring, the Pirates must back-fill that spot via trade or free agency.

Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.