The Pittsburgh Pirates recently made their second big trade of December, acquiring All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe (among others) in a blockbuster three-team deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros.
ESPN.com MLB writer and analyst Bradford Doolittle praised the Pirates’ move, giving Pittsburgh an A- for the trade while giving the Astros a D+ and the Rays a B+.
“The Pirates have pitching depth from which to deal and a lineup full of upgrade opportunities, and to turn (Mike) Burrows — a back-end starter for them likely to be usurped sooner than later — into three right-now big league contributors is a nice bit of work for Ben Cherington and his staff. It signifies a real attempt to capitalize on Pittsburgh’s contention-worthy starting rotation,” Doolittle wrote. “Lowe isn’t a star, but he’s a proven power threat and the Pirates need those in the worst way. Over the past five years, Lowe has averaged 34.5 homers per 162 games; last season Oneil Cruz led the Bucs with 20. Stack Lowe, Bryan Reynolds and Spencer Horwitz in the lineup, then you’re moving toward league average on offense, which for this team is a formula for wild-card contention.”
The Pirates haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, the final season in a three-year stretch where they finished second in the NL Central and qualified for the postseason each time.
Lowe is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, finishing 2025 with 31 home runs, 83 RBIs and a .256/.307/.477 slash line across 553 plate appearances covering 134 games.
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The 31-year-old made his second All-Star team and his first since 2019 as well.
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