Well, football season is finally over. It ended as unceremoniously for NFL fans across the globe as it did for fans of the Steelers—the Philadelphia Eagles absolutely dominated the Kansas City Chiefs, with the score reaching a margin of 40-6 (before ultimately ending 40-22)—in one of the more lopsided Super Bowls in recent memory.

The National Hockey League is paused for two weeks as the Four Nations Tournament commences this week, where the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland will vie for an international title. Unfortunately, the title is somewhat meaningless without the inclusion of the juggernaut that is Russia, as they have been banned indefinitely from international tournaments due to geopolitical circumstances. Clearly, Nikita Kucherov was involved in the Ukrainian invasion and must be punished accordingly. 

Pitt’s men’s basketball team lost two more games in the past week, getting blown out at home by a terrible Virginia team before missing a game-winning shot in the closing seconds in Chapel Hill against North Carolina on Saturday. They are now positioned firmly outside the confines of the NCAA tournament and would likely need to win out and make a run in the ACC tournament to have a chance of going dancing in March. 

Let us talk about the Pirates today. It was not that long ago that the Buccos were buyers at the MLB trade deadline, acquiring outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Marlins and Blue Jays, respectively, in exchange for prospects. 

They were not all-out buyers, selling the entire farm to win a ring, but soft buyers, making acquisitions that they hoped would help the team without bankrupting the future. BDLC was expected to be an immediate upgrade in the outfield, and IKF a plug-and-play guy in the middle-infield. 

That, frankly, did not work. De La Cruz’s numbers as a Pirate were bad—so bad, in fact, that he was non-tendered in the offseason, and is now a free agent. He accumulated a -1.2 bWAR in just 44 games, hitting .200/.220/.294 with a mere three home runs and 17 RBIs. He was also a liability defensively, amassing -4 defensive runs saved as a Pirate in those games. 

Kiner-Falefa was better, albeit not great. He played well enough to earn a roster spot for the coming season, hitting .240/.265/.322 with a 0.4 bWAR, although he only drove in ten runs on one home run. As a fielder, he saved 3 defensive runs in 50 games wearing the black and yellow. 

The Pirates finished 10 games below .500 last season after a very good start, despite Paul Skenes’ stellar pitching leading to a National League Rookie of the Year award. Many around the sport think that the club has a top-ten rotation in baseball, with Skenes, fellow sophomore Jared Jones, established veteran Mitch Keller, the organization’s top prospect in Bubba Chandler, and a number of options for the fifth spot. The important issues for the front office to tackle this offseason were the bullpen—which, you may recall, lost the team more games than I can count last year—and the lineup, which was positively atrocious throughout 2024. The big question, though, was whether they actually would?

You may recall that the New York Mets spent $765 million on one player. Juan Soto signed a 15-year deal worth that much with the club to leave the Bronx and go to Queens. He was not the only free agent that the Mets signed, but I digress. 

While the Mets signed a player to a contract worth $51 million per year, the Pirates spent less than $15 million on free agency. Total. On five separate players. They re-signed Andrew McCutchen to a one-year deal worth $5 million, their biggest deal of the winter. They signed outfielder Tommy Pham to a one-year, $4.025 million deal. They signed relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson to a one-year, $3 million deal. They signed former Pirate utility man Adam Frazier to a one-year, $1.515 million deal. Lastly, they signed relief pitcher Tim Mayza to a one-year, $1.15 million deal. 

If you do the math, those contracts amount to $14.69 million spent on five players. The cumulative bWAR for those five players last season was -0.9. If you subtract the bWAR of Andrew McCutchen and Adam Frazier, the only two players with positive wins above replacement last year that the Pirates signed, the free agency class had a bWAR of -2.0. That is absolutely pathetic and a disgrace to the city of Pittsburgh and the sport of baseball. 

Tim Mayza had a 6.33 ERA last season in 42.2 innings. Adam Frazier hit .202 with an OPS+ of 63 in 262 at-bats in 2024. Tommy Pham played for three teams in one season last year, garnering an OPS below .700 and striking out over 100 times in 440 at-bats. These are your new Buccos, folks!

One thing you may have noticed is that all five free agents were signed to one-year deals. This is normal for the franchise, as Bob Nutting & Co. have not signed a free agent to a multi-year deal since December 27th, 2016, when they signed pitcher Iván Nova to a three-year, $26 million contract. Yes, it has been over eight seasons since a free agent has signed a contract for more than one season with the organization. 

This is how the Pirates build around their young talent—with a pile of shit. You would think that, with one of the best pitchers in baseball, that the priority would be to attempt to win now before they inevitably trade him for a bag of balls. NOPE! Nutting and Cherington only care about spending the least amount of money for the least amount of talent. 

It is so hard to take this organization seriously when it is the same story, year-in and year-out. Curb your expectations—it will be another year of disappointment. By the way, the payroll for 2025 is slated to be $5 million lower than last year’s. Try justifying that.