Pittsburgh Pirates: 3 More Starting Pitching Targets

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The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to climb up the standings in the National League. However, trades are starting to occur, and the Bucs need to add another starting pitcher.

As of today, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 3.5 games back of a National League Wild Card spot. Furthermore, the team is within shouting distance of the Cubs in the NL Central being seven games back. With so much momentum going in the right direction, now is the time for Neal Huntington to add something to this roster. In doing so, the Pittsburgh Pirates organization could help regain some of the trust with their fans.

The team’s biggest need is really hard to pinpoint. When looking at the lineup it appears relatively solid, other than maybe shortstop. However, the team has Kevin Newman, one of their top prospects, in Triple-A. So with Newman, there is no reason to look for a shortstop in this trade market. So what does that leave? Starting pitching.

Currently, the Pittsburgh Pirates starting staff has the 16th best ERA at 4.10. Now, this could be worse, but middle of the pack is not what will help them make a push to get back into the playoffs. However, it cannot be just a depth starting pitcher. The team needs to get a controllable asset who they could pair with Jameson Taillon at the top of the rotation. They do not necessarily need to add a bonafide number one, but a solid number two could be enough. Adding a starting pitcher to the staff could help solidify the staff and give the team a true shot at making the playoffs. So here are three more pitchers the Pittsburgh Pirates could pursue this trade deadline.

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Michael Fulmer

Michael Fulmer might be the type of pitcher that makes the most sense for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Why? Because he is young and has cheap control for the next several years. Fulmer is just 25 years of age and has four more years of control after this season. He currently is making league minimum, but he will enter his first year of arbitration next season with three more years of arbitration after. So right away he checks two important boxes for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He also has been a really productive starter in his short career thus far. Through his first season, Fulmer pitched like an All-Star posting a 3.06 ERA in 26 starts. Then last year he saw his ERA climb a little bit, but was still relatively productive posting an ERA of 3.83. What was making Fulmer so successful was that he was producing ground balls at a 50 percent clip, something that the Pittsburgh Pirates like to see.

This year, however, has not been Fulmer’s best. His ERA has climbed even higher and is currently sitting at 4.50. One of the first reasons that his ERA has climbed is that his groundball percentage has dropped down to an unspectacular 45 percent. Furthermore, he is walking over three batters per nine innings pitched for the first time in his career. He also is giving up more home runs compared to the last two years. This is mainly because he is not getting as many ground balls as he has in previous years.

So why should the Pittsburgh Pirates deal for him? Well, right now might be a time that the Detroit Tigers feel that it would better to get something of value for him in case he keeps regressing. With that, the Pittsburgh Pirates could take a chance.

While he has four more years of control and will cost a decent package of prospects, he should come to a more competitive team and start to rebound. He has proven he can produce ground balls, the Pittsburgh Pirates could help him get back to being a ground ball pitcher. Also, the Pittsburgh Pirates are a better defensive team which should help him. Right now Fulmer’s FIP and Xfip are both closer to 4.00 than his ERA of 4.5. All in all, Fulmer has produced a 1.4 WAR which would be good for second on the Pittsburgh Pirates staff. The Bucs could slot him in right behind Taillon and help him get back to the impressive starter he looked like the last two years.

Ervin Santana

Here is a name that has not been brought up at all thus far in terms of rumors. This is mainly because Ervin Santana has only made one appearance so far this season and that was yesterday. Santana had surgery back in March on his middle finger of his throwing arm. However, it was not a serious surgery and he had no setbacks. He made four rehab starts and now seems 100 percent ready to go in major league action.

As mentioned above Santana has only made one start this year. In his start last night he threw five innings, giving up three runs, and striking out five. This is a pretty solid start for a pitcher who has missed most of the season. Still, Santana set a higher expectation last year. He was considered the Twins ace and actually started the Wild Card game against the New York Yankees. Last year, Santana pitched to a 3.28 ERA across 211.1 innings. This strong performance led him to his second All-Star selection. Last year was also his second year in a row pitching to a sub 3.50 ERA, so there is some consistency for Santana over the last two years.

Why Santana?

Why would the Minnesota Twins look to trade their former Wild Card starter? The Twins are currently 7.5 games out of first place with a losing record of 47-53. While 7.5 games back does not seem terribly far, the true problem lies within the AL Wild Card race. Right now the Twins are actually even further back at 13 games out of the second spot. So realistically speaking, the Twins only shot at making the playoffs is to catch Cleveland Indians. This would take Minnesota to start playing winning baseball and for the Indians to really fall off the deep end. This is not likely.

With Santana in the final year of a guaranteed contract, he is a perfect rental candidate. His 2018 salary is $13.5 million. With essentially two thirds of the season finished, Santana’s remaining salary is $4.5 million. This is a number that the Pittsburgh Pirates should be comfortable with paying. Furthermore, the team would have some insurance if they wanted to hang on for him for the 2019 season.

Santana has a club option for next year that is worth $14 million. While this is somewhat expensive, it should be doable, even for a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates. Also, the Bucs could sweeten a package for Santana and get the Twins to put some money in the deal. If not, he does have a buyout of $1 million. Even so, Santana is a playoff experienced starter who is coming off two really good seasons with the Twins. He would definitely be an upgrade to the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation.

Tyson Ross

Tyson Ross has been a name that has been linked to the Pittsburgh Pirates for many years now, except this year. While the San Diego Padres struggled during the Pirates’ playoff years, Ross stood out as the team’s ace. He was young, had great upside, and was a controllable starter. However, the Padres know that and were not going to just give him up. Instead, Ross ran into a lot of health issues and between 2016 and 2017, only throwing 54.1 innings. Of those innings, 49 of them came last season with the Texas Rangers. His ERA was over 7.00.

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Looking to bounce back, Ross signed a 1-year deal at $1.75 million, a prove it deal. Ross has outperformed this deal thus far and has given the Padres a decent trade chip. This seemed especially so through the first two months of the season as he boasted a 3.31 ERA entering June. However, Ross had two rough starts in July that made his ERA balloon up. The first was against the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 1st when he gave up seven earned runs in five innings. He followed that up with a two inning performance that saw him give up eight earned runs. Other than those two starts, he has only given up more than three earned runs in a start two other times this season.

Currently, his ERA is sitting at 4.29, but take away those two tough starts at the beginning of the month and he has an ERA under 4.00. He has produced a solid strikeout rate of 8.1 per nine innings pitched. This has equated to 21.1 percent of his batters faced striking out while he has only walked 9.5 percent of batters. This is a really positive ratio. The best thing about Ross is he has proven to be healthy, already eclipsing 100 innings this year. He seems to have found his stuff again and is very cheap in terms of money. The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a past of taking these reclamation type pitchers and making them great again. Ross could be the next one.

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A few days ago we did the first edition of this article. We looked at pitchers such as Sonny Gray, Kevin Gausman, and Chris Archer. All three whom are controlled past this season. The same can be said about Ervin Santana and Michael Fulmer. The reason is that the Pittsburgh Pirates are still a fringe playoff contender. Adding a starter could give them the push they need to sneak in the Wild Card spot. If not, this team has shown plenty of upside for next season. The Pittsburgh Pirates could secure one of these pitchers now to help next year as well.

Related Story. 3 Other Starters to Target. light

Obviously, Tyson Ross is a rental pitcher. Let’s be honest, it is rare that Pittsburgh Pirate general manager Neal Huntington makes a blockbuster move. So adding a controllable starter does not seem as likely. So the next best thing would be to get a reclamation starter who has a lot of upside. Acquiring Ross could be very similar to when the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired J.A. Happ in 2015. He would cost less in prospects and less financial commitment. However, it should not be about the money at this point, but rather giving a reason for the fans to believe that the team is trying to push for the playoffs.

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