Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Jordan Lyles on the Block?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have come out of the All-Star break playing pretty flat.  Due to that, they may consider trading some pieces away.

Going into the All-Star Break, the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing some really good baseball.  However, they lost all their momentum during the break and have since lost five out of six to the division-rival Cubs and Cardinals.  They are now 6.5 games back of the National Central league and in fourth place.

With the 2019 trade deadline looming, the rumor mill is starting to get going.  Teams that are in contention are starting to really consider adding to their areas of need, while teams who are somewhat out of it are starting to make their players available.  The Pittsburgh Pirates are likely going to be making more players available than adding proven major league talent.

With that being said, the rumors surrounding the Pittsburgh Pirates are starting to come out.  There has been a lot of smoke around a potential Felipe Vazquez trade.  However, other than the report that the Dodgers want him, there has not been any real confirmation if the Bucs would even at all consider trading him.

Then, of course, there are the pending free agents that the team most likely will move.  The pending free agents on the current roster are Jordan Lyles, Jung Ho Kang, Melky Cabrera, Francisco Liriano, and Corey Dickerson (Francisco Cervelli is also, but is very unlikely to be moved).  According to Jon Heyman of the MLB Network, the Bucs are starting to make those rentals available.  Heyman tweeted:

While Lyles has really struggled the last few months, he also has been given many opportunities by teams over the years.  He has been in the league since 2011 and has a career ERA of 5.00 yet teams are still taking flyers on the former top prospect.

Part of this shows how desperate the league is for pitching and players who can eat up innings.  Furthermore, Lyles pitched well out of the bullpen last year for San Diego and Milwaukee.  A team looking for bullpen help could acquire Lyles and secure some rotation depth in doing so.

Meanwhile, it has been pretty obvious that the Pittsburgh Pirates will look to trade from their outfield depth.  Both Corey Dickerson and Melky Cabrera are free agents at year’s end and could be two very interesting trade chips.

Cabrera could be a bigger chip than fans realize.  He is a veteran outfield who is a switch hitter and has proven to be solid off the bench as well.  However, what makes him really valuable is that his contract for the 2019 season was only $1,150,000.  The Bucs have paid well over half of that, so an acquiring team would be getting one of the more productive hitters this year at a bargain price.  Dickerson, on the other hand, is still owed around $4 million for the season, but still, there should be plenty of interest in the left-handed outfield bat.

Even if the Pittsburgh Pirates do not make any big moves, à la Felipe Vazquez, they likely will sell off some of their logical pieces.  All three of the players listed about are pending free agents and likely are not in the team’s future plans.