ZIPs has released their WAR projections for all the NL Central teams. Let's create an all division team roster of 26 players with the highest ZIPs projected WAR, and see how many Pirates make the roster.
SP
Our Paul Skenes leads the division in project WAR and will be the staff ace with a WAR of 4.5. Following Skenes, we have Sonny Gray at 3.9 WAR and Hunter Greene at 3.8. The number 4 and 5 starters are Justin Steele and Brandon Woodruff at 3.3 WAR each. That is a top three that will complete with the best of divisions. Hunter Greene has objectively some stuff in the league, and Sonny Gray has been an elite starter for a long time.
Bullpen
We will use Fangraphs classification on their ZIPs article for each team to determine who actually is expected to be a relief pitcher next year. Some pitchers still fall into both SP and RP, so we will only consider the pitchers who Fangraphs considers exclusively RP. The NL Central's team closer is one of the best closers in all baseball. Ryan Helsley is who closes for the Cardinals is expected to value at 1.6 WAR. Our setup guy is Gordon Graceffo from the Cardinals. He is projected for 1.1 WAR. Now granted he is primarily a starter, however the system we are using this year makes him a RP. Ben Brown from the Cubs is projected for 1.0 WAR and will be the seventh inning guy. He again is primarily a starter, but less so than Graceffo. We have a lot of 0.9 WAR relief pitchers to fill out the bullpen. We can start with the Cardinals Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson. The Bucs have Carmen Mlodzinski. Graham Ashcraft technically makes it as Fangraphs has him in the bullpen and not in the rotation. The Brewers also have someone valued at 0.9 WAR in Jared Koenig.
That rounds out the bullpen: Helsley, Graceffo, Brown, Liberatore, Thompson, Mlodzinski, Ashcraft, and Koenig.
Catcher
William Contreras is the clear starter here with 4.2 WAR. His brother Wilson isn't projected to be a catcher this year, otherwise he would have been the backup. Instead, we have Tyler Stephenson as our backup with 2.3 WAR.
Third Base
Hayes's defense isn't quite enough here as Nolan Arenado is the clear best first baseman in the division with a projected WAR of 2.9.
Shortstop
Any question here? Of course the best SS in NL Central is Elly De La Cruz, and will be for some time. He is projected at a massive 4.8 WAR.
Second Base
The Cubs get representation in the diamond with Nico Hoerner who is projected for a fantastic 4.5 WAR.
First Base
We have a three-way tie at 2.6 WAR between the Bucs Spenser Horwitz, the Cards Wilson Contreras, and the Cubs Michael Busch. Contreras had the best fWAR last season at 2.6, so we are going to give the edge to him.
Left Field
Reynolds ends up middle of the pack in terms of projected LF WAR. Ian Happ from the cubs leads at 3.6.
Center Field
Oneil Cruz is projected to be the second-best center fielder with 2.9 WAR. However, the projected best CF in the NL Central is the slick fielding Pete Crow-Armstrong at 3.5 WAR.
Right Field
We all know our hometown team don't have a nominee at this position. The best RF in the division hands down is the new Chicago Cub, Kyle Tucker with 3.7 WAR.
DH
McCutchen doesn't find himself as the line Pirates representative in the lineup. The best projected DH in the division is the Cubs Seiya Suzuki at 3.3 WAR.
Bench
That leaves us with 4 positions on the Bench because we included a backup catcher already. We will take one center fielder, one corner outfielder, a middle infielder, and corner infielder. The Bucs find a position player on this team as the backup center fielder Oneil Cruz with 2.9 projected WAR. Yay! The backup corner outfielder is the Brewer's Jackson Chourio. The backup middle infielder is the Cub's Dansby Swanson with 4.4 WAR. The backup Corner Infielder is between Spenser Horwitz and the Cub's Michael Busch at 2.6 WAR. I'm giving the edge to Horwitz since last year he had a higher fWAR per Plate appearance. Horwtiz had .0049, and Busch had .0040.
That gives the Buccos 4 reps on this team. One SP, a RP, and two bench spots. It's a bit disappointing to see no starters in the lineup, but Horwitz, Cruz, and Hayes might find themselves there next year.