The Pittsburgh Pirates have been tabbed as a top destination for the relative of an MLB legend this offseason.
The Pittsburgh Pirates will need to get busy improving their roster this offseason, as pitcher Paul Skenes has already made it clear that he is starting to run out of patience.
Of course, the Pirates will have the be shrewd with their moves. They don't have a very large budget, and they aren't exactly a marquee destination for top players.
However, Pittsburgh should be able to nab some decent middle-of-the-road free agents this winter, and The Athletic has tabbed the Pirates as a top fit for a rather interesting player: outfielder Mike Yastrzemski.
Yastzemski is the grandson of MLB Hall-of-Famer Carl Yastrzemski, and while he is not remotely close to his grandfather in terms of talent or production, he has been a very solid player throughout his big-league career, which began with the San Francisco Giants back in 2019.
In fact, Yastrzemski actually finished eighth in NL MVP voting during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign when he slashed .297/.400/.568 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI over 225 plate appearances.
Mike Yastrzemski. Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images.The 35-year-old has not even come close to replicating that stat line since, so perhaps that was an outlier season for Yastrzemski, but he has at least been respectable.
This past year, Yastrzemski slashed .233/.333/.403 with 17 homers and 46 RBI across 558 trips to the dish between the Giants and Kansas City Royals, registering an .809 OPS against righties.
The lefty bat has raked against right-handed pitching throughout his major-league career, managing an .809 OPS. That alone at least makes him a valuable platoon player, and with Pittsburgh so desperate for offense, Yastrzemski makes sense.
Of course, Yastrzemski's age is a major drawback. The Bucs would probably only be signing him to a one or two-year contract, and you have to figure that the Andover, Ma. native would probably prefer to sign with a contender at this stage of his career.
If the Pirates are able to convince him to jump aboard, though, it would be a heck of a pickup. Yastrzemski smashed 25 long balls back in 2021, so he has decent pop. He is also a spectacular outfielder, so he would comprise a nice two-way player for Pittsburgh.
It will be interesting to see what type of contract Yastrzemski gets and whether or not the Pirates would have the capacity to lure him away from better teams in free agency.