The Pittsburgh Pirates have gone to great lengths to improve what was the league's worst offense last year. The team added a pair of 2025 All-Stars in Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn, as well as two controllable outfielders in Jake Mangum and Jhostynxon Garcia. Despite those significant additions, one glaring weakness remains in the Pirates' lineup—somebody's got to play third base.
The Pirates thought they had the hot corner figured out when the club gave Ke'Bryan Hayes a then-franchise record $70 million on an extension that locked him up through the 2029 campaign. Alas, the bat never developed and the Pirates dumped the remainder of his contract—four-plus years and over $38 million—to the division-rival Cincinnati Reds at last season's trade deadline.