The Pittsburgh Pirates look like a rudderless ship right now.

In a year where they finished 71-91 despite their star ace, Paul Skenes, putting up one of the best pitching seasons of all time, the team has decided to make no major changes regarding their approach.

Semi-new manager Don Kelly is staying. Overdue general manager Ben Cherington is also staying.

A lot went wrong for the Pirates this season, and now that the dust has settled on a disastrous campaign, it’s never too early to start asking questions for 2026. So, I combed through the numbers on the 2025 club, and found five stats that lead to questions about the team’s future.

38

The National League finished in a tie in the stolen base department, with New York Met Juan Soto and our very own Oneil Cruz both snagging 38 this season.

It was another great season for Cruz along the bases and by far a career high for the man who will turn 27 tomorrow. He also made some pretty good strides as a center fielder after the Pirates abruptly moved him there late in the 2024 season.

Unfortunately for Cruz, that success did not translate to the plate. Though he smacked 20 home runs and 61 RBI, he slashed career lows of .200/.298/.378 (.676 OPS). From June onward, Cruz had an even worse .181/.265/.313 (.577 OPS). He struck out at a 32% clip this year.

If the Pirates are ever going to be successful, Cruz finding his way with the bat is going to play a major role in it. The Pirates simply need him to be better, and we all know that he has the physical skills to be a pretty good ballplayer. Just look back at his Home Run Derby performance, his power is off the charts.

It’s not near time to give up on him yet, and those who are open to a trade would certainly be disappointed by the return. But next year is crucial for Cruz. He doesn’t have to always hit the homer, because he’s the kind of player who can hit a single and immediately slide into scoring position. He just needs to be more consistent. Can he do it?

.787

First baseman Spencer Horwitz finished the season as the team’s best batter, finishing with a season-wide slash line of .272/.353/.434 for an OPS of .787. He led the team in all of those categories except for on-base percentage, where catcher Joey Bart narrowly beat him.

It’s quite impressive, considering he missed all of spring training after recovering from offseason wrist surgery and took a month and a half to kick off his major league season. He went on an incredible run from the All Star break onward, as he got more and more acclimated to Pittsburgh and the season.

I would argue that the emergence of Horwitz, who was Cherington’s big trade acquisition over the winter, saved his job as general manager. So, now that Cherington has bought himself another more time, what is this year’s Horwitz trade? Who can the Pirates find that can bring the same level of offensive impact as Horwitz?

Position isn’t super important; the team’s biggest needs this offseason are a corner outfielder and a left-side infielder, but honestly almost any position on this team could use an upgrade at the plate.

Finding at least one, but ultimately multiple bats of Horwitz’s caliber is a desperate need for the Pirates between now and next season. They have the assets to go out there and take a swing, and if you’re a fan, you just have to hope that whoever they bring in is Horwitz 2.0.

4.19

That’s Mitch Keller’s ERA on the season. It’s not world-beating, but it’s not bad at all.

However, among starting pitchers (or potential starters) who finished the season on the roster, Keller’s ERA is the highest. Here’s how the rest stack up.

• Paul Skenes: 1.97
• Braxton Ashcraft: 2.71
• Carmen Mlodzinski: 3.55
• Johan Oviedo: 3.57
• Mike Burrows: 3.94
• Bubba Chandler: 4.02

Naturally, one would look at Keller’s ERA and deem that he’s the odd man out. At 29, he’s the oldest member of a young rotation has among the worst numbers on a tremendous pitching staff. However, is trading Keller now getting the best value for him?

Keller’s salary is probably one that the Pirates, to the frustration of fans, will be looking to get off the books, so a Keller trade might revolve more around clearing salary than it does acquiring talent.

But, just for a minute, let’s pretend that the Pirates are a real team.

Keller, at $15 million a year for around league-average stats, probably doesn’t have all that much value in the trade market.

Yes, he’s an innings eater, has very predictable decent performances, and has cost certainty, but he might have more value to the Pirates then to another team. So, does Cherington look at perhaps dealing a different arm this winter for a bat? Can Cherington sell another team on the upside of another player as opposed to Keller?

What’s that old saying? “A boat’s a boat, but the Mystery Box could be anything! It could even be a boat!”

.355

There’s no denying that the aforementioned Bart, overall, took a big step back offensively this season. A year ago, the catcher was reviving his career after the Pirates traded for him, slashing .265/.337/.462 (.799 OPS) with 13 home runs and 45 RBI in 80 games.

This year, meanwhile, he slashed .249/.355/.340 (.696 OPS) with four home runs and 30 RBI in 93 games. If there’s something that does stick out, though, it’s his team-leading .355 on-base percentage.

Bart drew 40 walks this season, for a 12% walk rate. And while the walk rate stayed solid most of the year, Bart did have a much better second half to the season. Over his last 40 games and three months, he slashed a much better .259/.370/.407 (.777 OPS).

So, has he done enough to lock down a job for next year? There’s some competition at catcher heading into 2026.

Henry Davis, the team’s first overall pick in 2021, is still likely to get another chance this season as the team tries to get him to pan out. Rafael Flores, the headliner in the David Bednar trade back at the deadline, got a cup of coffee at the MLB level and will battle for a job out of spring training.

Can Bart hold off Flores for the time being? And if he doesn’t, where does Bart end up? I suppose it’s possible the Pirates could spot him as a designated hitter from time to time, but if Flores really shows out in Bradenton next spring, Bart’s future here could be in trouble.

2.45

Isaac Mattson blossomed into a stellar major league reliever this season for the Pirates, pitching to a 2.45 ERA, 1.133 WHIP, and 2.37 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 47.2 innings. That’s a really good arm.

Mattson was virtually an unknown prior to this year. Yes, he had a lot of professional experience to his name, but at 29 years old, he had a total of 9.2 innings to his name. In his first full season in the big leagues, Mattson became a high-leverage arm for the Pirates and a reliable reliever who the team could trust.

He essentially stepped into the eighth inning, setup man role after the deadline, as the previous holder of that, Dennis Santana, shifted to closer.

Pittsburgh’s starting rotation is pretty much set up, but their bullpen could still use a few more additions. In all likelihood, the Pirates will spent of their limited free agent money on a lefty to throw in the bullpen. But finding another diamond-in-the-rough arm like Mattson could do wonders for the relieving staff of the Pirates.

If there’s one area that Cherington has shown he can do well, it’s pitching. So, go do it again. Who is that next Mattson-type reliever?