Pittsburgh Pirates news and notes from day three of the Winter Meetings

The third day of Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings is winding down – here is a recap of Pittsburgh Pirates news from the day

The busiest week of the Major League Baseball off-season continues on in Orlando. Day three of the Winter Meetings featured a lot of similar rumors and news pieces surrounding the Pittsburgh Pirates as there were the first two days.

Reportedly, the Pirates are interested in a reunion with a former player, a Gerrit Cole trade is still being discussed, and the team is looking for outfield help. With that said, let’s dive into today’s news and notes.

As was covered by Rum Bunter earlier today, a report has emerged of the Pirates being interested in a former player. This report – from DK Pittsburgh Sports – indicates that the team is interested in a reunion with reliever Jared Hughes. A Hughes reunion would be a mistake by the Pirates, and you can read more about that here.

Gerrit Cole’s name continues to pop up in trade rumors with the New York Yankees. Additionally, according to Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates have started to identify potential Yankee players for a Cole trade.

However, it continues to appear that not trade is close. Furthermore, Cole’s agent Scott Boras told the media on Wednesday that he has no reason to believe a trade will happen.

Brink also reports that the Pirates are interested in adding a fourth outfielder to allow Sean Rodriguez and Adam Frazier to focus more on playing the infield. Could someone like Jarrod Dyson make sense? Time will tell.

Another Pirate player that could potentially be traded his catcher Francisco Cervelli, this is according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rob Biertempfel.

When healthy, Cervelli is a very good catcher as evident by his 5.3 fWAR between 2015 and 2016. The problem is he seldom stays healthy. However, the Pirates should not trade Cervelli. Not only due to him being a good catcher when healthy, but also due to a lack of an internal replacement. Yes they have Elias Diaz, but in his first extended Major League look last year Diaz struggled to block the plate, control the pitching staff, and he could not hit at all. This led to him owning a .265 on-base percentage, .253 WOBA, 52 wRC+, and a fWAR of -0.3 last season.

Finally, according to Ken Rosenthal, second base Josh Harrison continues to garner trade value and interest. The Blue Jays, Brewers, Mets, and Yankees have all been linked to Harrison. Now that Ian Kinsler is off the board, any potential Harrison trade winds could really pick up.

Next: What NYY players could the Pirates target in a potential Cole trade?

That will do it for today. Thursday is the fourth and final day of Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings. Stay tuned with Rum Bunter for all and any Pittsburgh Pirates news from Thursday’s Winter Meetings finale.