Pittsburgh

Pirates

Skenes received 23 out of the 30 first-place votes, with seven going to Jackson Merrill, who finished in second place. Jackson Chourio finished third and Shota Imanaga finished fourth in the NL ROY balloting. Skenes, who is also a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award, put together one of the more memorable rookie campaigns in recent memory after exploding onto the scene in mid-May, allowing three earned runs or fewer in a staggering 22 of 23 starts. The flame-throwing 22-year-old finished last season with a sublime 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 170/32 K/BB ratio across 133 innings. He’s the first starting pitcher to claim the senior circuit honors since Jacob deGrom back in 2014. He enters the 2025 campaign as a universally-regarded top three starting pitcher for fantasy purposes.

Rodríguez began the year with the Rangers but pitched to a 7.11 ERA in 31 2/3 innings over 2023 and 2024 and was designated for assignment. The Blue Jays claimed him but Rodríguez posted a 15.43 ERA in four appearances with Toronto and was designated for assignment in the middle of September. The Pirates will hope that they can get him back to the level he showed a few years ago when he showcased the potential to be a solid MLB reliever.

It’s a pretty interesting wrinkle for the Pirates as Strom played a pivotal role last decade in building the Astros juggernaut before a three-year stint with the Diamondbacks. He brings a wealth of experience to a talented Pittsburgh staff headlined by the tandem of Paul Skenes and Jared Jones with top prospect Bubba Chandler on the doorstep of the big leagues.

Jefferies (elbow) and Heller (shoulder) are coming off injuries, while Mattson was a late-season call-up for the Pirates as emergency relief depth. The trio have the ability to elect free agency, but have been removed from Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster heading into the offseason.

Let’s just say we saw this one coming. Gonzales is expected to miss a significant portion of next season after undergoing flexor tendon surgery on his left elbow back in late August. The 32-year-old southpaw will head to free agency after making just seven starts in his lone season with the Pirates.

Cabbage set Triple-A on fire in the Angels organization in 2023, hitting .306 with 30 home runs and 32 steals in 107 games, but he has been unable to carry that production over to MLB action. He has a .209/.245/.331 slash line in 67 MLB games with two home runs, two steals, and a 40.8 percent strikeout rate. The Pirates will hope they can get some production out of him in 2025.

The 28-year-old Gray is a solid defensive third baseman with power, but his inability to hit for average has kept him from getting much of a chance. He has 36 major league plate appearances for three teams, the last 24 of them coming after the A’s picked him up on waivers from the Marlins in mid-August. He went 3-for-21 with 13 strikeouts during his time with Oakland.

Ramirez pitched for the Pirates in 2022 and 2023 and had a 3.67 ERA in 61 1/3 innings. He spent this year with the Dodgers, Red Sox, Orioles, and Mets. compiling a 5.97 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP with 38 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings. He will likely serve as organizational relief depth.

Siani has struggled to stay healthy since the Pirates made him the 37th overall pick in the 2019 draft, but he played in a career-high 116 games this year, hitting .324/.402/.564 in 20 games in high-A ball before fading to .254/.325/.368 in 96 games in Double-A. He’s probably never going to hit for a whole lot of power and his defense, while more than adequate, isn’t at the level of his older brother Michael’s, so he’s probably going to be a reserve if he makes the majors. The Pirates figure to leave him available in the Rule 5 draft.

Johnson went 2-for-4 with a homer before exiting with the severe cramps, but he was able to return for the celebration, and told reporters he could play Wednesday. Pittsburgh will likely have a say in that decision, but it’s good to know the 20-year-old didn’t suffer a long-term injury. Johnson has not lived up to hype since being a fourth-overall pick, but there’s plenty of time for that to change.