Former Blue Jay Spencer Horwitz eager to settle in with Pirates and add stability

Spencer Horwitz was settling in to watch Gladiator II with his girlfriend last week when his phone buzzed.

By the time the movie, with a running time of two hours 28 minutes, was over, the first baseman had been traded.

Twice.

First from Toronto to Cleveland in a deal that sent Gold Glove second baseman Andres Gimenez to the Blue Jays. About an hour later, the Guardians flipped Horwitz to Pittsburgh in exchange for three pitchers.

To be honest, Horwitz was kind of entertained. Relieved, too.

While Horwitz was "ecstatic" when he heard he was heading to the reigning American League Central champions, he was a little confused, too.

"I know they have some really good first basemen," he said. "And they had [traded] Gimenez and I was curious if I was going to play second, third or kind of what the plan was."

Turns out, none of the above.

Enter the Pirates, who have had a revolving door at the position since trading Josh Bell to Washington in December 2020. Pittsburgh has employed four different opening day first basemen over the last four years: Colin Moran, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Carlos Santana and Rowdy Tellez.

Horwitz, who is under team control through the end of the decade, will have an opportunity to provide some stability for a team that believes the window to contend is fully open thanks to a starting rotation led by National League rookie of the year Paul Skenes.

"I mean the pitching everyone talks about and how unbelievable it is," Horwitz said. "And facing the Pirates in the minor leagues, I felt it firsthand. They all throw hard. They all throw inside. They all have really hard offspeed. So, I'm glad they're going to be my team."

The 27-year-old Horwitz hit .265 in 97 games with Toronto last season, adding 12 home runs and