Weekly Report: Roster Puree, ZiPS & MLBTR Pirates Preseaon Peek, Old Bucs - New Nests

Into the offseason…

Pirates Stuff:

• The Bucs protected six players from the Rule 5 Draft by placing them to the 40-man roster: OF Esmerlyn Valdez, RHP Brandan Bidois, Wilber Dotel & Antwone Kelly, IF Jack Brannigan and LHP Tyler Samaniego. To clear 40-man space, Pittsburgh DFA’ed OFs Alexander Canario & Ronny Simon along with RHPs Dauri Moreta & Colin Holderman; Mauri was the only surprise cut among that group as Money’s line of 6-3-2/3.72 over the past two seasons here seemed roster worthy.  
• OF Jack Suwinski and the Pirates agreed to a one-year, $1.25M contract to avoid arb. Jack has been with the Bucs for four years, and in nearly 400 games has a line of .199/57 HR/148 RBI w/422 K in 1,170AB. He’s also out of options, so it will be a make-or-break camp for him this year. They also signed RHP Yohan Ramirez, who posted a 3-3/5.40 line last season, for $825K.
• Pittsburgh tendered contracts to the remaining arb guys: Oneil Cruz, Joey Bart, Dennis Santana, Johan Oviedo and Justin Lawrence. The FO also tendered contracts to all the pre-arb players.

Dennis Santana – 2025 MLB The Show

• The Pirates were $78M interested in Josh Naylor, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, and sniffin’ around Kyle Schwarber. We’re kinda dubious, but hey…BC said he had more resources (ie, $$$) in hand this year, so hope springs eternal.
•  A MLB Trade Rumor report by Mark Polishuk has an early peek of BC & Company’s early efforts to augment the boys in ’26, which seems so far to be to dangle Mitch Keller and Johan Oviedo (over-payers only need apply), insert Konnor Griffin as SS and improve internally.
• RHP Noah Murdock, 27, of KC signed a minor league deal with the Bucs and was assigned to Indy. He debuted last year for the Royals, and in 14 outings had a line of 1-1/13.24, with 21 K in 17 IP – and 20 walks! He was a hi K, hi BB guy in the minors and his low arm slot mechanics both match the Pirates mold, so… 
• Dan Syzmborski at Fan Graphs has his ZiPS projection for the Pirates out; he likes the pitching, but the bats…

MLB Stuff:

• RHP Wilkin Ramos, 25, signed a minor league/NRI deal with the San Francisco Giants earlier in the month. Ramos split the 2025 season between Altoona & Indy, putting up a 4-4-7/2.64 line with 68 K over 64-2/3 IP.  Losing him and Moreta puts a dent in the Bucs’ 2026 bullpen depth.
• IF Liover Peguero has signed a minor league deal with the Phils. The once-touted prospect was dropped from the 40-man and became a FA in November after hitting .227 in 96 games over four seasons for the Bucs. 
• C Abraham Gutierrez inked a minor league deal with the A’s. He spent 2025 at Indy, hitting .250 in 25 games.
• Philly signed OF Bryan De La Cruz to a minor-league contract. BDLC was hoped to be an answer to the Pirates chronic OF hole in 2024 but hit .200 w/three HR and became a FA after the season. 

Paul Skenes/Yasmani Grandal Battery – 2024 Topps

• C Yasmani Grandal was released by Boston; he had been on the restricted list since June. He played for the Bucs in 2024, hitting .228/nine HR and serving as Paul Skenes’ first personal MLB catcher & mentor.
• RHP Jake Woodford, who had a short stint in the Bucco bullpen in 2024 (0-4/7.09) before being DFA’ed to Arizona, has agreed to a minor league/invite to camp contract with Tampa Bay.
• The Padres signed IF Pablo Reyes to a minor league deal. He got his start as a Bucco from 2018-19 and has spent part of seven seasons with five MLB teams as a bench piece with a .245 career BA.
• Justin Meccage, Pirates bullpen/pitching coach from 2017-23, left his ’24 gig with the Brewers to become a Giants pitching coach.