The Pirates sign Carlos Santana to a one-year deal, once again adding another first baseman to the team:

After a midseason trade to the Mariners, Santana emerged quickly as a leader, something the Pirates — whose oldest position player on the 40-man roster is 31-year-old Ji-Man Choi, for whom they traded earlier this winter — desperately need.

ESPN.com

A first baseman capable of hitting 35 home runs might be a little better.

Santana and Choi own a similar batting profile. They are low batting average, high OBP hitters with little power. This looks like a platoon to me as they left-handed Choi does not hit LHP well, while the switch hitter Santana hits lefties better than righties. Both help the Pirates get on base more, something the offense needs. Santana also hits lefties well enough that he might DH in those games.

First baseman hit particularly poorly for the Pirates in 2022, but none of their positions really generate anything close to good offense. Second base comes the closest. First base is easy to fix, and the Pirates found a low cost solutions. Developing good players up the middle is what they need to turn the team around, and that’s a much more difficult problem.