Pittsburgh Pirates: Three More Way to Open Payroll

The biggest thing with any of this is that no matter what the Pittsburgh Pirates would do, they need to put that money and more into the current major league roster.  However, if they are able to clear another contract they could have the money to go and get a bigger name free agent.  The team already has cleared $15 million dollars, so dumping another $10 million would give them upward of 25 million dollars to reinvest into the team.

Of the ones in the slideshow, the most likely to happen would be Ivan Nova.  The Pittsburgh Pirates have internal options that they could fill the number 5 spots with.  Pitchers like Nick Kingham and Clay Holmes were former top 20 prospects who could fill the spot until Mitch Keller is ready.  Or the team could look at the market to bring in a cheaper number five or get aggressive and sign an even better start than Nova.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will not trade any of their players on team friendly deals like Marte or Vazquez.  They need to keep Dickerson for 2019 because of Polanco’s injury and really should be looking to bring in another outfielder already.  Cervelli could get traded, but with his concussion history teams could be wary to acquire him.