A total of 66 more players are now free agents after not being tendered contracts by their teams by Friday's deadline. Four of those players could potentially provide something the Pittsburgh Pirates really need, which is left-handed hitting.
First baseman Nathaniel Lowe is one player who could bolster an offense that was last in the major leagues in runs scored, home runs, and OPS this year. The others are outfielders JJ Bleday, Jake Fraley, and Mike Tauchman.
Lowe had the worst season of his seven-year career in 2025 as he hit .227/.308/.381 with 18 home runs in 153 combined games with the Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox. The Nationals released him on Aug 16.
Until this year, though, Lowe had an OPS+ over 100 in each of his first six MLB seasons and, at age 30, should be expected to bounce back. He hit .265/.361/.401 with 16 homers in 140 games with the Texas Rangers a year ago and hit 27 home runs for them in 2022. Lowe won a Gold Glove in 2023 when the Rangers captured the lone World Series title in franchise history, but had minus-4 defensive runs saved this past season.
The Pirates already have a left-handed-hitting first baseman in Spencer Horwitz. However, he could move to designated hitter and the long side of a platoon with Andrew McCutchen if the franchise icon returns to the Pirates in 2026.
Bleday struggled this year with the Athletics, batting .212/.298/.404 with 14 home runs in 98 games and had minus-10 defensive runs saved. The 28-year-old still showed pop after hitting 20 homers the year before.
Though Bleday has been mainly a center fielder during his four-year career, he needs to move to one of the corner spots, and the small right field at PNC Park might be ideal. Bleday hasn't lived up to the billing as the fourth overall selection in the 2019 amateur draft, but maybe coming to Pittsburgh could spark him, as he grew up in Titusville, Pa., rooting for the Pirates.
Injuries limited Fraley to a combined 76 games with the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves in 2025, and he hit .241/.332/.382 with six home runs and minus-2 defensive runs saved. However, his 15 home runs and 21 stolen bases in 2023 for the Reds make him an intriguing player at 30.
Tauchman is 34 and might be stretched as an everyday player, but he had a .263/.356/.400 slash line, nine home runs, and three defensive runs saved in 93 games for the Chicago White Sox this past season. Tauchman has been an above-average MLB hitter in each of the last three seasons after spending 2022 in the Korean Baseball Organization.