Pirates’ $12 million offseason mistake is already becoming impossible to defend
The Pirates’ offseason guess on Marcell Ozuna was by no means supposed to require this a lot explaining by May. Pittsburgh gave him $12 million as a result of the lineup wanted instant injury, not one other lengthy runway for one more getting old bat to discover itself. The complete level was to add energy to a skinny offense and provides opposing pitchers another reason to cease cruising by the lineup.
One month in, the one uncomfortable half is watching the Pirates strive to preserve defending it.
Ozuna’s begin has been brutal. We’re speaking a couple of .162 common, a .466 OPS, two dwelling runs, eight RBI and a unfavorable bWAR getting into May, which is about as loud as an early-season purple flag can get. The Pirates committed $12 million to Ozuna on a one-year deal, on the time that the contract included a $16 million mutual choice for 2027 with a $1.5 million buyout.
For the Pirates, that is actual cash. And when that cash goes to a 35-year-old DH who is not hitting, working, defending, or providing positional flexibility, the leash can’t be limitless simply because the entrance workplace does not need to admit the plain.
Marcell Ozuna is making the Pirates’ offseason energy repair look painfully misguided
The frustrating part is that the logic was not completely ridiculous in February. Pittsburgh wanted pop. When Ozuna agreed to the deal, the Pirates ranked final in MLB with solely 117 dwelling runs final season, so the thought of including a veteran hitter with an extended energy monitor file made loads of sense on paper. Ozuna was coming off a down 2025 with Atlanta, however he nonetheless hit 21 dwelling runs, and the Pirates have been clearly betting there was sufficient left within the bat to elevate the ground of the lineup.
But that is the issue with the logic. Eventually, video games present up and begin bullying the speculation. Right now, Ozuna is not stabilizing something. He’s dragging down the one lineup spot that is supposed to be the best place to chase offense. The DH function exists so groups can conceal a glove and preserve a harmful bat within the lineup. The Pirates are currently hiding a problem there instead.
This is not a rebuilding group casually consuming at-bats simply to see what occurs. The Pirates have sufficient fascinating items that each wasted lineup spot feels extra annoying than it could have two years in the past. You can’t speak your self right into a extra severe period of Pirates baseball after which preserve handing prime at-bats to a delegated hitter producing like a pitcher who discovered a bat within the lost-and-found bin.
That sounds harsh, however we’re speaking a couple of veteran DH whose complete job is to hit baseballs exhausting sufficient to justify every thing else he does not present. If that part disappears, the argument disappears with it.
If Pittsburgh retains working him on the market due to the contract, that is not persistence. It’s stubbornness. The cash is already spent. The solely query now is whether or not the Pirates are going to compound the mistake by letting it price them extra video games.
Ozuna was supposed to make the Pirates really feel extra harmful. Instead, he has change into the best a part of the lineup to query.
