Weekly Report: Soto Signed, Simon Back, Bucco Notes, Pirates Quiet At Winter Mtg, Ol' Bucs & Staff Find New Gigs

December doings...

Pirates Stuff:

• The Pirates signed LHP Gregory Soto to a one year/$7.75M contract. He tossed for the O's and Mets last year, posting a line of 1-5-1/4.18 in 70 games. He's been in the league seven years and compiled a 15-34-56/4.26 slash. He was an All-Star in '22 with Detroit with 30 saves, but since then has been used more as a lefty-on-lefty specialist (last year, RHH batted .307/LHH .192 v Soto). But he's got a wipeout slider, racks up Ks, is cutting down on walks and was thought to be the top lefty reliever on the market.
• The media guesstimate was that the Pirates offer to Kyle Schwarber was for four years/$120-125M, but he stayed put and reupped with Philly, accepting a five year/$150M deal from the club. Others left in the dust: the O's made an offer that was said to equal Philadelphia's and Cincy also proposed a five-year agreement. Baltimore rolled out Plan B; the next day, they signed 1B Pete Alonso to a five year/$155M contract. The Buc lesson: they have to overpay to get a FA. A trade may be the best way to go.

Ronny Simon - 2005 Topps Update

• The club re-signed IF/OF Ronny Simon, 25, to a minor league deal. Simon was picked up in June from Miami and got an eight-game Bucco look (.233 BA), spending most of the campaign at Indy (.284 BA, 7 HR in 54 games).
• Ol' Bucco IF'er Josh Harrison won a spot in the Hall of the Pretty Good to become its 35th overall member and the first Pirate.
• BTW, Pittsburgh has more than the FO beating the bushes for help. Jason Mackey of the Post Gazette reported that Paul Skenes has offered to help pitch the team to potential free agents and trade targets.
• If you're lookin' for a deal, get-together or some swag next time you visit PNC Park, here's the Pirates 2026 promotions and dates calendar.

Winter Meeting Stuff:

• In the Rule 5 draft, Pittsburgh didn't lose any players and took RHP Carter Baumler from the O's and then traded him to the Rangers for RHP Jaiker Garcia/$100K. The soon-to-be-21 Garcia pitched Rookie League and is now playing winter ball (he's on the same team as recently acquired OF Jhostynxon Garcia). His numbers aren't very shiny, but he's finishing up the process of converting from an infielder to the hill, so he has room to grow. The Pirates 40-man temporarily had a free slot as the newly signed Gregory Soto hadn't been officially added yet, allowing them to maneuver for a free non-roster roll of the dice. The minor league draft saw the Bucs lose RHP Jack Carey, who worked mostly for Greensboro last year, and select four arms that are all projects. Carey was their only lost player as top 30 Bucco prospects C Omar Alfonzo and LHP Anthony Solometo, the most likely suspects to selected, made it through the major league portion of the draft.
• One of the first points of business taken care of at the MLB get-together was the Draft Lottery draw on Tuesday. The Bucs will get the fifth pick of the draft, which will be held July 12-13 in Philly. They also have the highest draft pool money pool at almost $19.5M. It's the seventh straight year the Pirates will have a top-ten pick; let's hope the Paul Skenes-Konnor Griffin mojo continues.

MLB Stuff:

• The Guardians signed RHP Colin Holderman for one year/$1.5M, who's well worth a bounce back dice roll for that price.
• The Yankees signed RHP Drake Fellows. Fellows was part of the '21 Joe Musgrove swap with San Diego and posted a 9-6/4.41 line for Indy this season where he was a swingman with 19 starts in 33 outings.

Nick Mears - 9/21/2021 image AT&T SportsNet

• RHP Nick Mears was part of a trade by Milwaukee to KC. Mears has been with Colorado and Milwaukee since he left the Pirates after the 2022 campaign; his line in '25 was 5-3-1/3.49.
• The Miami Marlins hired Blake Butler as their IF coach; he was the 2025 manager of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the Pirates A+ affiliate. He had been a Bucco farm coach since 2020 and led the 'Hoppers to back-to-back playoff finishes in his two years as skipper while winning the Sally League MOTY this season.
• The Bucs suffered a second hit when the Arizona Diamondbacks hired the Pirates director of pitching development, Jeremy Bleich, who earlier served as a major league coach and assistant director of pitching in his six years with the Bucs. Bleich will assume an assistant GM role for the D-Backs.
• Joe Buck won the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting, awarded by baseball's Hall of Fame. Buck joins his dad, Jack, to become the only father-son duo to win the Frick.