Regardless of how the rest of the offseason plays out, you can’t say that Ben Cherington and the Pirates front office didn’t recognize one of their biggest glaring holes. Not only did they realize that first base needed an upgrade, they were aggressive in addressing it.
After trading Jack Hartman to get Ji-Man Choi from the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this month, the Pirates reached into the free agent pool and signed former All-Star Carlos Santana to a one-year deal.
Santana is the ideal target to platoon with Choi at first base, but that isn’t the only thing you are going to get from him.