The Bucs announced February 6th that they signed Tommy Pham to a 1-year $4.025MM deal with a chance for an additional $250K via incentives. I'm hearing Pham is expected to play the weakside platoon against LHPs. I still think they should consider carrying 14 position players on their 26-Man roster if they sign another LHH outfielder.
As their current 40-Man roster stands these are the best players they can roster IMO.
- Catcher: Joey Bart, Endy Rodriguez
- 3B: Ke'Bryan Hayes
- SS: IKF
- 2B: Nick Gonzales, Adam Frazier
- 1B: Spencer Horwitz
- DH: Andrew McCutchen
- LF: Bryan Reynolds, Billy Cook
- CF: Oneil Cruz
- RF: Tommy Pham, Joshua Palacios
Lineup vs RHP
- Joshua Palacios RF
- Bryan Reynolds LF
- Oneil Cruz CF
- Spencer Horwitz 1B
- Joey Bart DH
- Ke-Bryan Hayes 3B
- Adam Frazier 2B
- Endy Rodriguez C
- IKF SS
Lineup vs LHP
- Nick Gonzales 2B
- Bryan Reynolds 1B
- Andrew McCutchen DH
- Ke-Bryan Hayes 3B
- Joey Bart C
- Oneil Cruz CF
- Tommy Pham RF
- Billy Cook LF
- IKF SS
The lineup deployed against LHP looks much stronger than the lineup vs RHP.
The Pirates seem intent on making IKF an everyday shortstop, and if Adam Frazier isn't starting against RHP why else is he here? So I had to make him a regular against RHP and platooned him and Nicky-G. This is a bit of a stretch because ideally Gonzales will get everyday reps but last year he hit LHP much better. McCutchen and Pham shouldn't be everyday players anymore. Having them play the weak side of a platoon with an occasional start against RHP will keep their reps low.
Hayes, Reynolds, and Cruz is the core and they play everyday. I am banking on Bart's performance last year to carry over this year making him an everyday player and a better hitter against RHP than McCutching taking over the DH role against RHP. Cutch will start occasionally against the fastball/changeup type pitchers and Bart against pitchers who throw break.
If Endy makes the 26-Man he should get most of the starts at Catcher, and he is better defensively than Bart. In 2023, he significantly favored hitting RHP over LHP. Horwitz has the highest project wRC+ this season and should hit cleanup against RHP. I have Reynolds playing 1B against LHP greatly improving the outfield defense.
Palacios is one of the best slider and sinker hitters against RHP on this team and should entice the pitcher to throw the fastball against him to lead off the game, then the pitcher will have to switch to the breaking pitch when facing Reynolds and Cruz.
The 6 - 9 hitters vs LHP looks much better than the 6 - 9 against RHP. Ideally Hayes would be hitting 8 or 9 against RHP, but I'm not confident Frazier or Endy will be any better in that regard. This is where signing Alex Verdugo or trading for another outfielder to face RHP would be great if they also carry 14 position players. The Bucs could then move Reynolds to DH to improve the outfield defense. Bart would probably take over as the fulltime catcher sending Endy to AAA making Delay the backup catcher. Hayes would bat 7th which is better than the current situation, and the new outfielder could split Cruz and Reynolds up separating the fast ball first hitters. Horwitz is fine batting 5th bumping everyone else down in the lineup.