IBC

Welcome to Pittsburgh

1B Miguel Cabrera
OF Alex Gordon
SP Justin Verlander
SP Michael Pineda
SP Michael Wacha
2B Kolten Wong
C Matt Wieters
RP Arquimedes Caminero
SP/RP Tony Cingrani
SS Erick Aybar
RP Brian Matusz
3B/1B/COF Mark Reynolds
OF Austin Jackson
SP David Phelps
3B Rio Ruiz

Leaving the Pirates

SP Felix Hernandez
RP Jake McGee
3B Matt Carpenter
3B David Wright
SP Chris Tillman
SS Raul Mondesi Jr.
1B/OF Braxton Davidson
OF Eddy Julio Martinez
SS JJ Hardy
1B Rhys Hoskins
SP Arial Jurado
1B Chris Carter

Acquired, then dealt

Draft Pick No. 40
Ubaldo Jimenez
Byung Ho Park
Jose De Leon
Matt Chapman
Brian Dozier
Kenta Maeda
Dan Vogelbach
Alex Reyes
Jesse Winker
Clint Frazier
Vlad Guerrero

Spring Training is underway which means the offseason is closed. (OK, we won't have the ZiPS disc probably another month plus but whatever).

We ended the season as World Champs, but also with a rotation of Felix, Martinez, Colon and Tillman, and had two third baseman in Wright and Carpenter. The rotation wasn't going to fly long-term, and the Pirates were getting a little old. Shipped out both 3B, Tillman, King Felix and McGee from the ML team, and also sent off promising prospects in Mondesi, Davidson, Eddy Julio and Hoskins.

The rotation is 80% revamped, and has a much brighter future with Wacha, Pineda and Reyes (eventually) added to the fold. Verlander posted one of the best second halves of his career last year (http://www.blessyouboys.com/2015/11/27/ ... l-velocity), and should be productive in PNC Park. We'll now roll with Martinez, Verlander, Wacha, Pineda and Colon, which I feel really good about. Pittsburgh is hoping that Reyes will be a dominant fixture in the rotation in 2017 as well.

While the Pirates will downgrade at 3B (Carpenter/Wright -> Reynolds/Ruiz/others), we did go out and nab Wong and upgraded SS (Aybar), and hopefully added the COF of the future in Winker and Frazier.

We'll tinker throughout the year as we always do in Pittsburgh, but the two-time defending champions are pleased with the offseason. We'll go through Spring Training evaluating our options at 3B, but overall, we like our chances here in 2016.