Trade Deadline

[peytonsaturday]

Who do the Bucs trade? Who do they get?

I think they need to sure up the bullpen obviously.  Maybe a better backup catcher.  But priority 1-5 should be bullpen help.
On the hotseat to be traded (at least according to me):
Jared Hughes
Watson
Stewart
Joyce (not because of lack of productivity, but due to what he could bring in a return)

[knowitall]

Are the Pirates buyers or sellers?  If buyers, none of those will be traded.  Depending on how Taillon and later Glasnow perform I don't see the Pirates making many big moves at the deadline.  One position I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade though is 1B.  I am not a big fan of John Jaso.  The question is who will be available.  Freddie Freeman perhaps? 

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[12HankQB]

Not Freddie Freeman, I'm happy with the Jaso, Freese, and Serpico platooning first base until Josh Bell arrives.

[knowitall]

What if Josh Bell performs like Pedro Alvarez or Chad Hermansen?

[Crimson's Ghost]

Depends on injury, they never would've grabbed Ramirez last season if Mercer and Harrison weren't on the DL for so long, and fortunately they had when Kang went down and the other two got healthy. We'll have to see what arises on that front. 

The Bucs are towards the top in nearly every major offensive category runs, OBP, and batting average.  So as it stands now I don't see them upgrading much there.  I don't even expect to see Bell this season. Jaso is signed through next year so I think Bell will be brought up mid season next year to eventually take over the job. Freese was a one year deal and should get a halfway decent contract next season wherever he goes due to his play this year. 

I do think they need to add a catcher of some consequence. They trust Stewart to play twice a week and he's good with the pitching staff, but he can't really hit consistently in the event Cervelli goes down again. 


They may not need to add a starting pitcher if Taillon and Glasnow perform.  Liriano really scares me right now though, that needs to be monitored. But they seem to have enough arms to withstand a week or two at a time. But I would hunt bullpen help. Melancon is good, Feliz has been solid, Watson has been mostly good expect last week's random meltdown. But I would still look to add an arm or two there. 

[12HankQB]

What if Cutch and Marte break both femurs....I think if the Cubs can bring an entire team up from the Minors and have success, we can be very optimistic about Bell.

[knowitall]

I would like to have a better option as a utility infielder.  The Pirates do not have a backup shortstop. 

[Crimson's Ghost]

The bench of Freese, Rodriguez, Joyce, and Stewart is pretty good and everyone has a pretty solid role on the team, and for as much Freese plays its hard to say he's a bench guy at all. They could find an upgrade over the Figueroa kid on the team right now as a 25th man. As knowitall mentioned, a middle infielder that could be a backup shortstop. 

Rodriguez is playing short today to give Jordy a break, but if Mercer was out a month or two, they would probably need to do better than Rodriguez.  SRod is hitting better this year than last, but Mercer is a really good defender. They give up a lot there if he's not in the lineup

[pahntr]

Pitching, Pitching, Pitching....more specifically, bullpen help. How nice would it be to still have Joe Blanton and his .766 WHIP, 34 K's/8 BB's per 31 innings pitched! This team desperately needs help in the PEN! They have one of the best benches I can ever remember a Pirates team having, but they seem to have gone a little too far into the bargain bin to round out the pitching staff and it's biting them in the backside pretty often. Basically, they are staking their whole season on minor league pitchers being able to come up and produce....If Taillon does not have success, they are in a bad way. Glasnow is talented (saw him pitch in person a few weeks ago...he's good) and may get there this year, but 31 walks in 66 innings is not a great stat for a starter. Especially when that starter is at AAA and not the big show. Seems like he needs to tighten up his control a bit. If they bring up a second starter from AAA it seems like Kuhl may be the better option after Taillon. Kuhl sports a .94 WHIP 51 k's/11 bb's in 62 innings, that's pretty darn tough to beat. We don't know all of the inner discussions and concerns the organization has for these guys, but it certainly appear that based on the numbers, Kuhl is more ready than Glasnow. 

Barring injury, we'll see Bell after the roster expands in Sept. They'll want him to get a few big league AB's this season if possible. He's gonna be up there next year, they are paying him too much money not to be....

Best case scenario, they can get two of those three AAA starters to come up and have success and that allows them to cut the dead weight from the current starting rotation and possibly put one of them in the BP. Then they also pick up another BP arm somewhere while still getting the great current production from their bench that they are getting. It all hinges on the AAA starters though.