Now that the Pirates 11-game win streak has ended and the
team (and their fanbase) has fallen back to reality, let talk about how they
should approach the trade deadline.
For each of the last 4 seasons I have suggested moves for
Neal Huntington to make at the MLB trade deadline.
Each of the last 4 years Huntington has ignored my
suggestions and now the Pirates organization is a complete mess. You connect the dots…
Maybe he learns in Year 5.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are close to being contenders. They have a very nice young core, with Marte,
Polanco, Bell, Moran, Diaz and Meadows in the field. This is the core you build around. But they need more. They don’t need a A-ball prospect that will
be good in 2022. This team is close, but
they just aren’t ready this year. If
Huntington plays his hand right however, they could be in 2019.
The Pirates should not be buyers this season. They need to sell and the sooner the
better. The Pirates have assets. They don’t have the typical trade deadline,
rental player assets, but they have assets.
They have controllable assets.
The kinds of assets that Neal Huntington LOVES to collect, so asking him
to part with these assets is an uphill battle.
The Pirates do have a few of those “rental player” types,
but nothing that is going to bring back any type of real return. Josh Harrison’s trade value peaked early last
season. Harrison not being able to stay
healthy has completely drained any value he had before he demanded a trade
after Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole were traded. Francisco Cervelli now has ZERO trade value
due to his concussion problem. Those are
two guys that Huntington would have been targeting as possible trade chips at
the beginning of the season. Jordy
Mercer and David Freese won’t get you much except a smaller payroll. Ivan Nova, with another year left on his
contract, will get you decent return, but nothing spectacular.
That brings us to the very intriguing, controllable assets I
referred to earlier, Corey Dickerson and Filipe Vazquez.
Dickerson is having one of the best years of his young
career this season with the Pirates with a 318/351/517. He is currently under contract for the
remainder of the 2018 season, with 2019 being his final year of
arbitration. Dickerson will turn 30
during the 2019 season. Huntington
acquired Dickerson in a salary dump trade of Daniel Hudson, so he is already
playing with house money. Now is his
chance to cash in. You won’t get a huge return
for Dickerson, but you could get some MLB ready talent.
Vazquez is the golden goose in the organization. Just days after trading away Andrew McCutchen
and Gerrit Cole, the team announced Vazquez’s new deal and said that they would
build around their young closer. The
deal that he signed was an extremely team friendly deal. Vazquez is in Year 1 of a 4-year deal paying
him a total of $22M dollars. Mark
Melancon, the player the Pirates traded to the Nationals for Vazquez, is making
$20M THIS YEAR! At just $3M this year, Vazquez
is the 20th highest paid Closer in baseball. A player of Vazquez’s caliber, with his
contract would pull multiple top-level prospects from any organization that
bids for him.
“Ugh more prospects!?!?”
I can hear the complaints now.
But again, this is where Huntington must think outside his incredible
small box that he works out of and be creative.
If the Pirates were to deal Vazquez, Dickerson & Nova
(the only 3 with any real value) by the end of the weekend, they would then
have 2 days to flip the prospects they get in these deals for MLB level talent.
A report Thursday night from Ken Rosenthal had the Texas Rangers considering four Pirate prospects, RHP Tyler Eppers, RHP Dovydas Neverauskas, SS Kevin Newman & OF Jordan Luplow as the key piece in a deal for the current Rangers closer Keone Kela.
Among names #Rangers are considering from #Pirates in Keone Kela discussions, per sources: RHP Tyler Eppler, OF Jordan Luplow, SS Kevin Newman, RHP Dovydas Neverauskas. All are at Triple A. Newman is team’s No. 8 prospect, per @MLBPipeline, Luplow No. 22.— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 26, 2018
If I am Neal Huntington, I do it.
Do it, regardless of which of those 4 the Rangers want. And the moment the ink is dry on that deal,
call the Braves and dangle Vazquez. The
Braves closer, Arodys Vizcaino last recorded a save on June 17th,
since then he has pitched just 3 times and has landed himself on the DL. Since June 17th, the Braves are
11-16 and have fallen out of 1st place. You think they might be in the need of a closer? Vizcaino will be heading into this final
season of arbitration this year.
Acquiring Vazquez not only makes sense now, but for the future too. Oh and did I mention that the Braves have one
of the best farm systems in baseball?
According to MLB.com Prospect Watch the Braves have 8 of the
Top 100 prospects in baseball. That is 2nd
only to the San Diego Padres. Best of
all for the Pirates is that the majority of these prospects are MLB ready. 6 of those 8 prospects are pitchers, with 7
of the 8 expected to be in the Majors by the end of the 2019 season. The Braves farm system is deep too. It doesn’t stop at those 8 players, they have
plenty of depth, especially at the pitcher position. That means they can’t possibly keep all of
them and they are likely to move them.
After the Pirates pick through the Braves farm system for
some guys that can contribute immediately for the Pirates, they then turn
around and call the Tampa Bay Rays.
Chris Archer is the target here.
Archer is a guy that the Pirates have liked for a long time, but the
asking price has always been too high for Huntington. Now though, with the current Pirates farm
system and the return he has gotten from Dickerson, Nova and Vazquez,
Huntington finally has the prospects that the Rays would desire (and the asking
price has come down since he is signed his 6-year deal in 2014). Archer is controllable for the next 3 seasons
at a total of $27.66M. The Pirates
signed Ivan Nova to a 3/$26M deal before the 2017 season, so those contracts are a wash. The difference is that Archer is a better pitcher than Nova in
almost every facet of the game, and Archer is younger than Nova.
By making these moves, you are now looking at an improved
rotation that would look something like Taillon, Archer, Musgrove, Williams
& Kingham/Keller (or Braves prospects) for the 2019 season. You then can finally move Chad Kuhl to the
bullpen where he belongs, joining Steven Brault and Tyler Glasnow. If you are able to move Harrison and Mercer,
you then have the ability to bring up Kevin Kramer and Kevin Newman (if not
traded for Kela) to get Major League AB’s for the last 2 months of the
season. Trading Dickerson also allows Austin
Meadows to truly become an everyday outfielder.
There you have it.
Sell today, win tomorrow. I am
sure Huntington will ignore me for the 5th straight season, but at
least I can say I tried.
