As Travis Williams walked around the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the Pittsburgh Pirates president found fans to be just as passionate about the baseball club as ever.
Just not as angry.
A year after PiratesFest was met with protests from fans frustrated with team chairman Bob Nutting’s lack of spending on major-league payroll, the Ask Pirates Management Q&A session Saturday morning was far less contentious.
Pirates president Travis Williams answers a fan question about his season-ending statement that “the goal is to make the playoffs in 2026. Period. Full stop.” pic.twitter.com/JLBaWmj5R5
— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) January 24, 2026
That can be attributed to an aggressive offseason that saw the Pirates sign a two-time All-Star in left-handed reliever Gregory Soto to a one-year, $7.75 million contract, trade for two-time All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe and make their first multi-year free-agent acquisition in almost a decade by signing All-Star slugger Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year, $29 million contract.
“We made it very clear that we are committed to winning, and that’s our goal,” Williams told TribLive. “The moves we’ve made thus far this offseason, building on what we’ve been building for quite some time and the continuing work we’re doing to add more to it — which we know we need to do — with all of that, you’re hearing and you’re feeling a different level of energy, which really drives us.”
As the Pirates were concluding a 91-loss season in late September, Williams made waves by pronouncing that the expectation was for them to make the playoffs this season. The first question from fans was aimed at that statement and organizational accountability. Williams joked on stage that his kids told him that fans made T-shirts with his statement: “The goal is to make the playoffs in 2026. Period. Full Stop.”
“That statement certainly has a life of its own,” Williams said. “We meant what I said: Our goal is to make the playoffs. Period. Full Stop. That is the expectation of this organization. We’ve been building for that for some time. … We have a great opportunity in front of us this season, and we realize that.”
While Williams allowed that there is still work to do, he expressed excitement that the Pirates were looking forward to a “fun ride” this season and invited the fans to come along.
That it was well received was a reversal from last year, when PiratesFest became the center of controversy after billboards popped up around town urging Nutting to sell the team. Protesters handed out 300 T-shirts on the sidewalk outside the convention center and the Q&A session was met with a shout of “sell the team!”
When Williams talked last year about how the Pirates were “absolutely committed to win,” a pointed question was directed his way from Gabe Mazefsky, one of the organizers of the protests: “Where’s Bob?” Mazefsky wanted to know why Nutting wasn’t there to answer for his lack of spending on payroll to support a generational talent such as pitcher Paul Skenes, who won the National League Cy Young Award.
Mazefsky didn’t attend PiratesFest this year but sounded supportive.
“I am sincerely rooting for Bob to go all in,” Mazefsky texted TribLive on Saturday. “I had assumed by now he would. I view an all-in move as his own opinion of the likelihood of fair economics post-2026. Turn the page, Bob, and let’s all get 100% behind this team.”
That was the message Williams wanted to send to Pirates fans, one of optimism backed up by big moves that addressed the team’s offensive deficiencies. The Pirates have a transcendent player in Skenes, baseball’s consensus No. 1 prospect in shortstop Konnor Griffin and a roster that now features of a handful of All-Stars.
An impending snowstorm prevented some of the Pirates’ biggest names from attending — Skenes was in New York to receive his Cy Young Award, while Griffin was on his honeymoon — but the vibes at PiratesFest were mostly positive.
“I certainly respect and understand frustration last year and our fans holding us accountable, which I said on the stage earlier today. They need to continue to hold us accountable to the goal,” Williams told TribLive. “But we’re truly, truly feeling it as I’m walking around talking to the fans, not just today but over the course of the entire offseason. Everybody is excited about what’s happening this offseason and the opportunity that’s ahead of us. We’re really excited to continue to build what we’re building.”
