This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf¡¯s Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Pirates came into this offseason knowing they had to improve their offense, and the two positions that could use the biggest boost were first base and corner outfield. First base has been taken care of with the acquisition of Spencer Horwitz, a young player with a good (albeit brief) Major League track record that the team has coveted for some time.

The outfield? Well, that¡¯s the big question that they will need to answer before Spring Training gets underway.

The free agent market isn¡¯t bare yet, but it¡¯s starting to thin. Michael Conforto and Max Kepler landed eight-figure one-year contracts. The Pirates have approached that territory for free agents recently (Rich Hill signed for $8 million in 2022, and Carlos Santana got $6.75 million that same offseason), but given the recent injury history of both players, it didn¡¯t seem like the Bucs were willing to make a run for them at that price.

There are still other free agents on the market, but they come with catches. Austin Hays was an All-Star in 2023 with the Orioles, but he outperformed his peripherals that season and fell to replacement level in 2024. Randal Grichuk quietly had a strong season with the Diamondbacks (.876 OPS), but was mostly used as the right-handed half of a platoon. Is that enough? Jesse Winker, Tommy Pham, Ram¨®n Laureano. All are fine players, but do they move the needle enough when looking at this outfield in its entirety?

Oneil Cruz will man center field, and while he has the tools to excel at that position, he¡¯s short on experience. The Pirates -- and Cruz -- are all-in on the change, but he¡¯s green. Bryan Reynolds is still a corner outfielder, but bench coach Don Kelly has him on a program to play some first base too.

After them, it gets hazy. Jack Suwinski had a disappointing 2024 season, but he also had a 26-homer campaign in 2023. You can¡¯t give up on him now, but how many eggs can they put in that basket? Joshua Palacios struggled to stay on the field in the first half of last year and wasn¡¯t able to build off of his encouraging 2023 season. No. 22 prospect Billy Cook and No. 6 prospect Nick Yorke have promise but both are rookies, and Yorke¡¯s experience in the outfield is limited. An outfield of Yorke and Cruz (two newly converted infielders) and Reynolds (who had -12 fielding runs in 2024, according to Baseball Savant) runs the risk of being a defensive disaster.

That¡¯s why adding an outfielder is imperative. It¡¯s something the team wants to do, and very likely will do. There¡¯s always the trade market, and the Pirates still have pitching prospects to deal from, as well as Major League depth. They have three Top 100 pitching prospects in Triple-A Indianapolis who should be ready next year -- No. 1 prospect Bubba Chandler, No. 4 prospect Braxton Ashcraft and No. 5 prospect Thomas Harrington -- which gives them some flexibility to dangle a Major League arm in a trade. Teams also know they need far more than just five starting pitchers over the course of a season, and after trading Luis Ortiz for Horwitz, another big deal involving a starter could put them in an uncomfortable spot.

¡°At some point, you have got to be careful,¡± general manager Ben Cherington said at the Winter Meetings. ¡°We want to maintain [pitching] as a strength, and you go too far, you start to dig into it too much, and all of a sudden, you can get yourself in trouble. So, we'll need to be thoughtful and careful about it. Still feel like that's an area of strength and depth. We'll just have to see what comes.

¡°We're still interested in adding to the team. We think there'll be a lot of opportunities to do that.¡±

There¡¯s still time for the Pirates to bolster their outfield mix -- they signed Yasmani Grandal just before Spring Training and Michael A. Taylor in March, after all -- but they¡¯re going to need to add to the group. Moving on from Bryan De La Cruz was a bold move, but it¡¯s going to need a countermove as well. Until there is clarity on who that third outfielder is, questions about the lineup and offense are going to persist.