Entering this offseason, the Pittsburgh Pirates were widely expected to add to their offense by trading away from their abundance of quality starting pitching depth. That has already happened twice, as the team shipped Johan Oviedo to Boston and Mike Burrows to Houston to bring three new bats into the fold.
That leaves the starting rotation pretty set in stone for the start of the 2026 season, pending perhaps one more external acquisition on the back end. One pitcher currently penciled into the rotation equation, though with some questions attached, is right-hander Braxton Ashcraft.