Pittsburgh Pirates: 3 Potential Left-Handed Relief Targets

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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Pittsburgh Pirates
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Current Lefties

The club has to lefties in the bullpen, Felipe Vazquez, and Steven Brault.  The Pirates would benefit from Vazquez not being the closer but a fireman used in the highest leverage situations, but since that won’t happen the club effectively only has one left-handed reliever: Steven Brault.

Brault has a career 4.79 ERA, 18.0 percent strikeout rate and an 11.5 percent walk rate.  His control really has been suspect this season, walking 13.8 percent of hitters.  The Pirates don’t believe in the left-handed one-out guy (LOOGY), but that’s essentially what Brault is.  For his career, lefties have a .295 wOBA against Brault compared to the .359 by righties.

Here are some left-handed trade options the Pirates could look to acquire in a trade that would not cost a large prospect package and would be slight upgrades to the Pirates bullpen.  The list is on order by last name.  The tables have the players age, years the team has club control, and the salary owed to them the rest of the way.  The numbers featured the last three years pitchers, their 2018 numbers, and their STEAMER rest of season projection.