The Pirates are on the verge of bolstering their lineup via a three-team trade, acquiring infielder Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum and lefty reliever Mason Montgomery, a source told MLB.com. That trio of players came from the Rays, while Pittsburgh is sending right-handed starter Mike Burrows to the Astros.
The Rays will also receive prospects from the Astros in the trade, which is pending medical review and has not been confirmed by the clubs.
The Pirates came into this winter in search of more bats after finishing last in baseball in runs, home runs and OPS in 2025. This move seems to be a step in the right direction.
Lowe addresses two main areas the Pirates wanted to improve offensively this winter: He is an infielder and has a potentially big left-handed bat. Lowe is coming off a 31-homer season where he slashed .256/.307/.477 over 553 plate appearances. That performance earned him his second career All-Star nod.
The Pirates and Rays were making progress towards a deal at the Orlando Winter Meetings. Lowe has one year left on his contract valued at $11.5 million, a reasonable sum for a Pirates club that has some financial flexibility at hand.
TRADE DETAILS
Pirates would receive: 2B Brandon Lowe, OF Jake Mangum, LHP Mason Montgomery
Astros would receive: RHP Mike Burrows
Rays would receive: OF Jacob Melton (Astros' No. 2 prospect), RHP Anderson Brito (Astros' No. 7 prospect)
Mangum slashed .296/.330/.368 over 428 plate appearances as a rookie. While he doesn’t have much power in his game (he homered just three times), he has good bat to ball skills and provided plenty of value with his baserunning and defense. According to Baseball Savant, the switch-hitter had a baserunning value of three runs (as evidenced by him stealing 27 bases) and was worth six outs above average. He played all three outfield positions last season and did not make an error.
A fourth-round pick in the 2019 Draft, Mangum, 29, also holds the SEC record for most hits by a collegiate player.
Montgomery went 1-3 with a 5.67 ERA over 46 innings, but his peripherals suggest he could be a contributor too. The lefty averaged 98.7 mph on his fastball and recorded a 35.8% whiff rate, both of which ranked in the 97th percentile of pitchers last year. He attacks with a four-seam and slider mix and had better than average ground ball and hard hit rates, but he also had control problems, walking 12.9 percent of batters faced. His 30.1 percent strikeout rate still offers some encouragement if the 25-year-old southpaw can continue to develop.
Burrows has been one of the Pirates’ top pitching prospects for several years and had a solid rookie season in 2025, going 2-4 with a 3.94 ERA and 97 strikeouts over 96 innings. A Tommy John procedure in ‘23 pushed back his debut to the very end of ‘24, but he flashed the stuff -- especially his changeup -- that made him a coveted trade chip.
The Pirates came into this winter with starting pitching depth to dangle on the trade market, and this is the second time this month they were able to complete a deal, the first sending Johan Oviedo to the Red Sox for Jhostynxon Garcia.
With Burrows out of the mix, the Pirates’ Opening Day rotation could look something like:
- Paul Skenes
- Mitch Keller
- Bubba Chandler
- Braxton Ashcraft
- Hunter Barco
That’s assuming Jared Jones is not ready for Opening Day after his elbow surgery last May. General manager Ben Cherington shared at the Orlando Winter Meetings that he was willing to trade starting pitching, but it might make them more motivated to add another starting pitcher for depth purposes. They have several starters still on the roster -- Thomas Harrington, newly selected prospects Antwone Kelly and Wilbur Dotel, and Carmen Mlodzinski split time last year between the rotation and bullpen -- but adding a veteran hand to that mix would make sense.
As for the defensive alignment, it could look something like this at the moment:
C Joey Bart/Henry Davis
1B Spencer Horwitz
2B Brandon Lowe
3B Jared Triolo
SS Nick Gonzales, or potentially No. 1 overall prospect Konnor Griffin
LF Mangum/Garcia
CF Oneil Cruz
RF Bryan Reynolds
This likely won’t be the last move the Pirates make this winter, as Cherington stated a desire to add more “certainty” to the lineup, as well as more depth. Lowe definitely falls into the former category, but a little more help in the infield or a big bat to serve as the designated hitter would go a long way.
The Pirates’ roster is currently full at 40 players, so they will need to open up two spots to add their new trio of players.