PITTSBURGH — This Pirates offseason has programmed many of us, myself included, to automatically grab a stick and start swinging at the nearest piñata whenever a move has been made.

It's also understandable given the presence of Paul Skenes and what could be a darn good starting rotation. If you're not going to add now, when?

But as much vitriol as we've seen over the Spencer Horwitz trade, the steady trickle of first base and outfield options signing elsewhere and the usual parade of random waiver claims, I was left with a single-word response after the Pirates signed veteran left-hander Andrew Hainey for one year and $5,250,000 (plus $750,000 in incentives) last week:

Good.

Heaney, 33, is a major league pitcher capable of throwing major league innings on a major league team. He isn't damaged goods, nor has he agreed to come here because he stunk last year and the Pirates are the only team willing to offer a rotation spot.

Hainey had a 4.28 ERA across 32 games (31 starts) for the Rangers last season, working the second-most innings of his career (160), walking just 5.9% of the batters he faced and averaging nearly a strikeout per inning (159).

That's perfectly palatable.

It's also not everything.

The year before, Heaney (4.15 ERA) was even better for the champion Rangers. He talked Sunday at LECOM Park about learning his body, developing and sticking to a routine, mentoring younger pitchers and welcoming the pressure of getting paid to perform and win games — everything you'd want.

But there's also intriguing stuff happening here if you look a little beyond Heaney, which might be my favorite part of the move.

A terrific match

The ballpark factors are real.

We've seen this with Tyler Anderson, Jose Quintana and others. Soft-tossing lefties with plus changeups have success in PNC Park. They often face a bevy of right-handed hitters, and there's ample real estate in left, especially when pitchers can manipulate timing with a solid changeup.

That pitch was arguably Heaney's best last season. It netted a .384 slugging percentage against and a run value of 4, per Baseball Savant — the second-best a pitch has ever performed throughout Heaney's career.

Depth never hurts

I'm also curious to see where this goes from a pitching-depth perspective.

At minimum, the Pirates made their major league rotation better with the addition of Heaney. They could now space out right-handers Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller between Heaney and Bailey Falter.

Furthermore, it could position the Pirates to extend their starting rotation beyond the traditional five. Skenes and Keller could be normal-rest guys, but they should also be a little more conservative with Jones.

Let Heaney do his thing. For the final spot, there might be an intriguing piggyback situation available with Falter and Johan Oviedo, a lefty who averaged 76 pitches per start in 2024 and a righty coming off Tommy John surgery, respectively.

It would allow the Pirates to control the usage of both and strategically deploy them in parts of the game to maximize impact.

Feeding the strategy

That idea feeds into something our Noah Hiles wrote about recently, and it's absolutely something the Pirates need to embrace: non-traditional pitching deployment. But you can't do that without depth.

The Heaney move makes me feel better about that.

Even if the Pirates went the traditional route with their major league rotation, that group at Triple-A could look like this: Oviedo, Mike Burrows, Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington and Braxton Ashcraft.

Again, not saying the Pirates are without their issues or that anyone should start planning a championship parade, but that's objectively pretty solid.

Cherington has talked before about wanting to have at least 10 guys who are capable of making major league starts, maybe as many as 15. This is the first year where it feels like more than smoke.

Which, incidentally, takes me to another reason I like the Heaney deal.

What's next?

It gives the Pirates options to add more offense, which still needs to occur.

No, I don't mean flipping Heaney. But I do mean listening on pretty much everyone other than Skenes. (It would take a gargantuan return for me to do anything with Jones or Chandler, but I'm firm believer that it never hurts to listen.)

The idea that Tommy Pham and Jack Suwinski will experience shared success in left field sounds fun, but I also understand why some question it:

— Suwinski didn't handle a platoon role at the beginning of last year particularly well. What makes anyone think it'll change in '25?

— Pham will be 37 on opening day.

— They were worth a combined minus-25 defensive runs saved in '24 and will be counted upon to patrol an area that functions as a de facto center field.

— They also — and this is important — didn't hit particularly well last year.

Any addition also doesn't have to be in the outfield. As much as I bristle at the notion of trading away pitching, I can see why it would make sense to package one of those arms with a few lower-level guys for a plus bat who's at or near the major league level.

Someone like Heston Kjerstad, if he can't crack the Orioles' major league roster, springs to mind. But there should be plenty of options around MLB to improve the offense if you're dangling quality starting pitching.

There also won't be any offseason workouts where that guy can hurt his wrist (again).

Needed experience

Bottom line, I understand why the Pirates' offseason has been frustrating, believe me. At the same time, take a step back and consider some of the experience that now exists in the home clubhouse at PNC Park:

— Pham and Heaney both participated in the 2023 World Series — and they weren't bit parts.

— Criticize Adam Frazier's batting average (.202) in 2024 all you want, but he's been to the playoffs each of the past three years with the Mariners, Orioles and Royals. He should also be a bench guy, not an everyday player.

— Lefty relievers Tim Mayza and Caleb Ferguson have pitched in the postseason with the Blue Jays, Yankees, Dodgers and Astros.

I'm not saying it'll all work out. It might not. But it was a smart signing that opens up other possibilities. Same as ever with the Pirates, their success depends on better fundamentals, internal improvement and a different offensive approach.

We'll see soon enough whether Heaney becomes another Anderson or Quintana — or whether he and others can help the Pirates break through, rendering any lingering frustration from this offseason moot.

____

© 2025 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Visit www.post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.