Pittsburgh Pirates Twitter Mailbag: January 9, 2018

Welcome back to the weekly Pittsburgh Pirates Twitter mailbag here at Rum Bunter

Here at Rum Bunter we have started a weekly Pittsburgh Pirates mailbag on Twitter. Any questions pertaining to the Pirates, or anything else to be quite honest, can be asked on Twitter and will be answered here each week. Just keep your eyes peeled for our Tweet asking for questions!

First off, thank you to everyone who has interest and participates in our mailbag questions each week. Secondly, let’s begin with this week’s mailbag answers.

There are a pair of free agents that immediately come to mind for me. Left-handed starting pitcher Jaime Garcia and outfielder Jarrod Dyson.

The Pirate rotation needs a left-handed pitcher and the 31-year-old Jaime Garcia would fit this mold. Additionally, earlier this off-season the Pirates were connected to Garcia as you can read about here.

In 1,053 career innings pitched, 896 of which came in the National League Central with the St. Louis Cardinals, Garcia owns a 3.69 ERA and a 3.66 FIP. He is also a big groundball pitcher owning a lifetime 57.6 percent groundball rate. Jaime Garcia would improve the Pirate rotation, fits the Pirate mold, and is a pitcher to keep an eye on in free agency as the Bucs have been tied to him in the past.

As for Jarrod Dyson, he would fix the Pirates’ need for a fourth outfielder in a hurry. While Dyson is a very poor hitter owning a lifetime .299 wOBA and a wRC+ of 86, he is an elite defender. Dyson can play all three outfield positions and his lifetime dWAR is 68.6.

Moving forward in free agency, Jaime Garcia and Jarrod Dyson are two names to watch for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This was in response to the Houston Astros having interest in Pirate starting pitcher Gerrit Cole.

The Astros are a team that makes a lot of sense when it comes to the Pirates and a Cole trade. Not only are the Astros in the market for a frontline starter like Cole, they also have plenty of young trade chips that would interest the Pirates.

Outfield prospect Kyle Tucker (Baseball America’s #19 overall prospect) and pitching prospect Forrest Whitley (#84 overall prospect) would be two names to watch. It is tough to envision a Cole trade that does not involve at least one, if not both, of these two players.

Some other names that would most likely be discussed include pitchers David Paulino, Franics Martes, and J.B. Bukauskas. Young third baseman Colin Moran would be an intriguing name as well.

The Pirates would almost assuredly ask about young outfielder Derek Fisher as well, but it is tough to envision him being traded.

Eventually they will do something. What that something will be? It could be a lot of things.

Most likely everything hinges on if/when the Pirates trade players like Andrew McCutchen, Gerrit Cole, and/or Josh Harrison. If the Bucs move these guys then the rebuild is on. If not, look for Neal Huntington to look to add a starting pitcher and potentially address third base in an effort to make a run at the postseason in 2018.

Next: 2018 draft preview: Nick Madrigal

That will do it for this week. As always, if you have any questions for the mailbag drop them on Twitter and we will try and get to them.