Possible Trades For the Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed that they will look to be active on the trade market this year. Here are some possible players they could target this year. First off would be Oakland Athletics utility man Jed Lowrie. The Pirates do believe that they have enough players to cover the whole in the outfield left by the injury of Gregory Polanco. They believe the mixture of John Jaso, Adam Frazier, Jose Osuna, and recent call up Jordan Luplow are good enough, so Jed Lowrie comes to mind to help with the infield where he can play third base, short stop, and second which would allow the Pirates to give more rest to David Freese, Josh Harrison, and Jordy Mercer. Lowrie is putting together a solid season batting .265 and has and on base percentage of .339 with 10 homeruns and 34 RBIs in 362 plate appearances. He is a nice fielder to have on the bench or potentially a starter with Pittsburgh as he has a .989 fielding percentage. Another name that has floated around regarding a trade is Mets right fielder Jay Bruce. Now Bruce would be a direct replacement for right until Polanco is healthy. Bruce is a natural outfielder and has played some first base this year with the Mets so if the Pirates wanted to they could plug him in at first and rest the rookie Josh Bell. Bruce could also split time with Polanco if he's not one hundred percent ready when he comes back. Bruce also can help with the postseason chase. Jay Bruce is having a career year with the Mets as a starter batting .262 with a .325 on blase clip. He has 26 homeruns with 70 RBIs this season with a .989 fielding percentage. Another potential Mets outfielder they could target that the Mets have been open to trading is Curtis Granderson. Granderson would probably split time with Polanco as well and might be used sparingly in center field. Granderson isn't having the best season average wise posting a .225 batting average and a .326 on base percentage but has a .986 fielding percentage which would be useful for a defensive replacement and could fill in for Starling Marte if the Pirates make the postseason. Granderson still has pretty good speed and very nice power that could make for a nice postseason player. Now looking at a very thin pitching market the Pirates might have to give up some prospects but the top two names that have been thrown around with the Pirates are right handed pitcher Dan Straily of the Miami Marlins and right handed pitcher Sonny Gray of the Oakland Athletics. Dan Straily might be a more appealing target for the Pirates as there might not be as much competition for him depending on what happens with Yu Darvish, Justin Verlander, and Sonny Gray. Dan Straily would be a very welcome sight in the Pirates rotation as they prepare to make a run at the division or possible wild card. Straily is 7-6 this year with a 3.84 ERA in 117.1 innings pitched. Sonny Gray is a more intriguing name on the market compared to Straily. Now their will be a lot more competition for Gray as he's 6-5 this year with a 3.43 ERA in 97.0 innings pitched but has proven himself in the postseason earlier in his career. Some other names that could be thrown around are left handed pitcher Jaime Garcia and right handed pitcher Ervin Santana both of the Minnesota Twins, who have claimed would possibly trade both if they continue to struggle. Santana is 11-7 with a 3.37 ERA in 136.1 innings pitched and could really add some depth to the rotation that already has Gerrit Cole, Ivan Nova, and Jameson Tailon. Garcia is 5-7 with a 4.29 ERA in 119.1 innings pitched. Garcia has been dominant at points in his career but has had points where he struggles to stay healthy. The Pittsburgh Pirates could also sell at this deadline with rumors going around that left handed pitcher Tony Watson could be dealt and the deadline or depending on what goes on the nest few days possibly even current set up man Juan Nicasio as well as John Jaso. The Pirates could be very active at this deadline on July 31, 2017.
