My my, how far we’ve come.

Some of my favorite tweets to see on Twitter/X yesterday was graphics of Opening Day lineups of Pirates past. If you’re someone who enjoys a trip down Memory Lane or “oh yeah, I forgot about that guy” avenue, it was fun to look back on previous starting lineups.

But there’s even a stark difference from last season’s Opening Day roster compared to this year’s. The new additions via trade and free agency, plus an impending promotion of the top prospect in baseball sometime soon, has fans feeling true hope for the first time in quite a while.

So given all the change that’s come about on this roster over the offseason, I wanted to write a little about three new Pirates I’m excited to watch this season. For the purpose of this list, I focused on some of the additions you may have forgotten about, and who might not headline the roster right now, but could blossom if things go well.

Jake Mangum

The three-team trade with Tampa Bay and Houston is often denoted as the Brandon Lowe trade for the Pirates. It makes sense as to why; Pittsburgh did something unusual and swung a deal for a 30+ home run guy and a power hitter with a track record of slugging.

But the Pirates also received two other players who are on their Opening Day roster: a reliever in Mason Montgomery and an outfielder in Mangum.

Mangum is a late bloomer, making his major league debut last season at age 29. That extra time in the minor leagues helped him carve a niche in Tampa’s roster. He slashed .296/.330/.368 (.698 OPS) in 118 games and made a living off playing small ball. In a lineup that is now much more geared towards power, his presence will change up the approach at the plate and give the Pirates a more balanced attack when he plays.

Mangum will enter this season as the fourth outfielder, sitting behind Oneil Cruz at center with Ryan O’Hearn and Bryan Reynolds flanking him on the corners. It would have been hard for him to beat out any of those guys for a starting job; Reynolds is a longtime vet in Pittsburgh, O’Hearn was the first mutli-year free agent signing in a decade, and Cruz is still a high-potential bat.

But I do think Pirates fans will love watching Mangum play, and I am very curious to see how much playing time he gets with this team. He’s not your typical fourth outfielder.

Mason Montgomery

Alright, I talked about one other piece of the Brandon Lowe trade, I might as well talk about the other piece as well.

Montgomery made 57 appearances out of the bullpen last season for the Rays, struggling to a 5.67 ERA, 1.652 WHIP, and 2.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He did get better as the season went along, but it wasn’t the most inspiring of seasons for the 25-year-old.

However, there is still a lot to like about him. For one, he’s a lefty, a rare breed among this Pirates pitching staff. Their starting rotation doesn’t feature a lefty for the first time in the tenure of general manager Ben Cherington, and the bullpen has half the lefties it did at this time last year.

Montgomery is also an analytics darling and a favorite of fans and outlets who love advanced stats. He has all the tools to be an incredibly talented arm in the bullpen, and there’s belief out there he has the potential to be a closer one day in the big leagues.

While a closer’s chance might not come this season, he will have a chance to earn a high-leverage spot. I’m super fascinated to see how he shapes up in a new organization. If there’s one thing the Pirates organization has done well consistency over the last several years, it’s develop pitchers. Let’s see what they do with Montgomery.

José Urquidy

Initially brought in to compete for the fifth spot in the rotation, Urquidy did end up making the team…but as a reliever, not as a starter. A starter for pretty much his entire major league career, Urquidy might now shift to the bullpen for his next major league gig.

It’s possible that he will take the path that I had outlined for Carmen Mlodzinski: the long-reliever type who can help pick up innings in the event one of the young guns, Bubba Chandler or Braxton Ashcraft, needs help in a start.

But while there might be some caution over some of the younger arms of the rotation, it’s also fair to feel a little wary over the 30-year-old himself.

The righty hasn’t pitched regularly in the major leagues since 2023. He missed all of 2024 laboring with injuries and eventually undergoing elbow surgery, and only recovered in time to get 2.1 innings with Detroit last season. He simply doesn’t have a recent track record of pitching at all, and his last steady work saw him record a 5.29 ERA in 63 innings.

Urquidy is a super interesting name to watch, because it feels like there’s so many potential paths his time in Pittsburgh could take. He could transition to a bullpen guy and take over a job there, he could slot back into the rotation in lieu of someone like Mlodzinski, he could struggle and earn a rather quick demotion, the possibilities really do vary with him.