Pittsburgh Pirates Mailbag: July 31, 2018

Not only is it the day of Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, it is also mailbag day here at Rum Bunter

Should the Pirates look to keep Corey Dickerson and trade another outfielder? What is up with Jung Ho Kang? And what will Neal Huntington do, or not do, before 4 p.m. this afternoon? All of that and more in this week’s Pittsburgh Pirates’ mailbag.

As always, thank you to everyone who submitted questions and participated. Now let’s begin!

Well, first off, we’ll ignore the fact that Corey Dickerson is currently on the disabled list while Austin Meadows is on the 25-man roster.

Anyway, this would be a poor choice by the Pirates. Dickerson is having a fine season, but he is closing in on 30 and is a free agent after 2019.

Meanwhile, Gregory Polanco is just 26, he is under team control through 2023, and it appears he is finally turning a corner as a hitter. He currently owns a career best on-base percentage, slugging percentage, walk rate, ISO, wOBA, and wRC+. Polanco’s ceiling is also the higher of the two and brings greater future value than Dickerson dows.

Jung Ho Kang saw a specialist in Pittsburgh during the All-Star Break. For those who do not know, he is currently on the disabled list at Triple-A due to a wrist issue. While Kang’s overall numbers at Triple-A were poor, he was starting to heat up in the week leading up to his injury.

The reason there has been no word on Kang is because there is no word. He is still nursing his wrist injury. When he is healthy, he will return to the lineup for Indy and will continue to work his way back to Pittsburgh.

Here’s the thing, while the postseason remains a longshot for the 2018 Pirates they can look to add for now and later. This is why you are seeing the Bucs connected to players under team control beyond this season such as Chris Archer, Craig Stammen, Kevin Gausman, and Mychal Givens.

Adding players controlled beyond this season helps both the 2018 Pirates, as well as future teams. This also would make it more likely that the Bucs are willing to part with higher rated prospects. Personally, outside of Mitch Keller, no prospect would be untouchable, Austin Meadows included.

That will do it for this week. If you ever have a question for the mailbag look for our Tweet each week asking for questions.

Also, make sure to stay tuned here at Rum Bunter throughout the day as trade winds continue to swirl around the Pirates and all of Major League Baseball.