The Pirates begin the 2019 regular season Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati.

Their roster doesn’t figure to contain any major surprises, though it could have looked a little different.

And better.

All it might have taken was the spending of a few dollars. And, in terms of the Major League Baseball salary scale these days, that is definitely a few.

With Elias Diaz likely starting the season on the disabled list after an illness sidelined the Pirate catcher for most of spring training, Jacob Stallings will come north as the Bucs’ backup catcher.

A second Pirate catcher could have been Matt Wieters, a former all-star who signed as a free agent with St. Louis for only 1.5 million this offseason. This guy clearly could have helped this team. Instead, he will be helping one of its division rivals.

The Pirates are looking for someone to nail down the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation. Jordan Lyles, Nick Kingham and Steven Brault are the candidates.

They could have had veteran Gio Gonzalez, who signed a minor league deal with the Yankees for $3 million just the other day. Former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel entered this weekend still on the free agent market, though he would clearly cost a few more million.

The money is in the coffers. The Pirate payroll is way down, even to the point where the Bucs could make a legitimate run at Keuchel.

With Gregory Polanco still on the mend, Lonnie Chisenhall looks to be the Pirate right fielder on Opening Day. He was signed for one year at $2.75 million early in the offseason.

The Cleveland Indians — who let Chisenhall walk — signed veteran slugger Carlos Gonzalez for $2 million. The Texas Rangers signed Hunter Pence for $2 million and the Arizona Diamondbacks inked Adam Jones to a $3 million deal for one year.

All of those guys are older, true, but they also have solid track records as major league hitters. Chisenhall will likely hit if he stays healthy, but the guy has rarely stayed healthy.

The Pirates have not won a World Series in 40 years. They haven’t won a postseason series since then, either.

Ownership and management insist that this year’s goal is to return to postseason play and take a shot. And on paper, this doesn’t look like a bad team.

The starting pitching and bullpen are solid. The lineup doesn’t have a 40-home run guy, but does have a handful of guys capable of hitting more than 20.

But if the Pirate braintrust genuinely believes it can make a run at the NL Central Division title, did it do its best in putting together the most productive 25-man roster it could?

The thought here is no.

Just sayin.’

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle