Pittsburgh Pirates: Time To Sell & Other Takeaways From Series Loss vs Phillies

PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 21: Starling Marte #6 of the Pittsburgh Pirates is tagged out at second base by Scott Kingery #4 of the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth inning during the game at PNC Park on July 21, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 21: Starling Marte #6 of the Pittsburgh Pirates is tagged out at second base by Scott Kingery #4 of the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth inning during the game at PNC Park on July 21, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /
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Pittsburgh Pirates
PITTSBURGH, PA – JULY 19: Corey Dickerson #12 of the Pittsburgh Pirates scores on a RBI single in the second inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at PNC Park on July 19, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

It’s time to sell

Will the Pirates be buyers or sellers at the July 31st trade deadline? This is a question many people around baseball – likely, Neal Huntington included – were asking themselves the past week. Well, the answer is now clear – it is time to sell.

Unfortunately, the Pirates are not built for a postseason run. This team has far too many flaws, on top of being buried in the standings. Due to this, Huntington should be looking to sell in the next eight days.

Every player that is on an expiring contract should be made available. Corey Dickerson, Jordan Lyles, and Melky Cabrera are all free agents to be that should carry value at the trade deadline. Jung Ho Kang and Francisco Cervelli are set to become free agents as well, but neither of them have any trade value at all right now. In fact, Cervelli is not even cleared for game action yet.

The question then becomes does Huntington want to move any players that are under team control past this season? Center fielder Starling Marte and reliever Felipe Vazquez would both net massive returns, but the Pirates best bet could be to keep them and make them part of the core they build around in 2020 and beyond. On the flip side, trading one or both of them could add to said core.

Regardless of how things shake out, it will be a busy week for Huntington.