Weekly Report: Ozuno Inked, Early Camp Notes, RIP Baron, Jake & Bello On Staff - & Even AJ For A Week, Ol' Bucs Finding Camps...

Camp fire lit…

Pirates Stuff:

• The Pirates signed DH Marcell Ozuna to a one-year/ $12M ($10.5M base + $1.5M buyout guarantee for ’27) with a mutual option for next season. The 35-year-old is a three-time All-Star who spent the past six campaigns with the Atlanta Braves. His 2025 slash was .232 BA/21 HRs/68 RBIs for the Bravos. Marcell was purely a DH last year, suddenly a crowded spot on the Bucco roster.

Baron of the Bullpen – 1966 Topps

• A Pirates great is gone – the Baron of the Bullpen, Elroy Face, passed away at the age of 97. 
• Ass’t pitching coach Thomas Whitsett has resigned for personal reasons; he was hired from the Astros org in December but hadn’t reported for camp. The Pirates said that Indy pitching coach Cibney Bello, who spent two years w/Indy after eight years coaching in the Twins system, will replace him.
• Jared Greenspan of MLB.com takes a crack at naming the Pirates pre-camp Opening Day roster .
• Ol’ Bucco C Jake Stallings, who retired after the 2025 campaign, is back, working in the baseball ops department.

• RHP Khristian Curtis was a late invite to camp. The 23-year-old starter was 8-5/3.98 at High A Greensboro last year and got a quick peek at Altoona, pitching two scoreless innings with three K. 
• AJ Burnett came to camp on Sunday for a four-or-five day gig as coach w/o portfolio to mentor the young guys after Don Kelly asked Batman to drop some knowledge on a pretty young group of arms.

Jared Jones On Track – 2025 photo SportsNet Pgh

• Don Kelly said RHP Jared Jones is on track at camp with his UCL surgery rehab schedule. The Bucs have no plans to rush him back into service and expect a late May/early June return to the hill for JJ.
• Termarr Johnson is taking grounders at third after spending his Pirates minor league career mainly at second with some shortstop action thrown in, so we’ll see how that in-house move develops.
• Greg Brown & SportsNet Pgh released the broadcast schedule for ’26 spring training games.

MLB Stuff:

• The Brewers signed RHP Peter Strzelecki to a minor league deal. He spent most of last year at Indy with the Bucs and was toasted (2-2/9.90) with a lot of control issues that put him in a hole on the hill. Pete has been solid in the bigs overall – in three seasons & 77 outings, he’s posted a line of 5-6-1/3.44.
• The Mariners announced that they’ve signed 1B/OF Connor Joe, who had a reunion stop with the Pirates last year.
• Lefty reliever Anthony Banda, who was with the Bucs in 2023 (where he had a rough go) before joining the Dodgers, was sold by LA to the  Minnesota Twins for international bonus pool money.

Miguel Andujar – 2023 Topps Heritage

• The San Diego Padres signed 3B/OF Miguel Andujar to a one-year/$4M deal with $2M in possible bonuses and a 2027 option. He was with the Bucs in 2022-23 and some thought he was a fit again.
• RHP Miles Mikolas, who the Pirates got in the 2013 offseason and traded away a few weeks later without ever suiting up, signed with the Nats after resurrecting his cred in Japan and tossing for the Cards.
• RHP Shelby Miller has agreed to a two-year/$2.5M deal with Cubs that could also include 2027 incentive bonuses. He was with the Bucs in ’21 at Indy and 10 MLB outings while on the injury comeback trail.