Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Future Trade Destinations for Adam Frazier

One of the trade pieces the Pittsburgh Pirates still have on their roster is Adam Frazier. While the market for second basemen isn’t too hot right now, what could be Frazier’s market in the near future?

Right now, there aren’t too many trade partners for Pittsburgh Pirates infielder/utility man Adam Frazier. Many teams have second base, and outfield covered. But by the trade deadline, or even earlier than that, teams might get desperate for a solid player with utility like Fraizer has.

Before we continue, we need to establish Frazier’s value. In 2019 Frazier produced a .278/.336/.417 line with 10 home runs and 33 doubles in 608 plate appearances, the most of his career. His overall offensive output was slightly below average with a 99 OPS+ and 97 wRC+ (100 is league average).

Frazier was better at the plate in 2018, batting .277/.342/.457 with 10 home runs and 23 doubles in 352 plate appearances and finishing with a 118 OPS+ and 116wRC+. 2018, however, seems to be more of an outlier than the regular. Fraizer’s 2019 more represents his career averages, so don’t expect much more than a .280/.340/.410 line. Plus, Frazier is a bit inconsistent. In his career, the lefty swinger has a .720 OPS in the first half of the season, but a .803 OPS in the second half.

But Frazier’s value is more in his glove than his bat. Despite Frazier having a -1 DRS, he still had a 2.9 UZR, which ranked 4th in the league. His 4.6 UZR/150 was 3rd in the MLB as well. Outs above average put Frazier in the best of light. With +11 OAA, Frazier ranked 19th in the MLB, and was in the top 97th percentile among MLB players. Frazier also can play the outfield to an average level. In his career, the 28-year-old has +3 DRS, and a -1.2 UZR. Overall, Frazier posted a 2.7 bWAR in 2019, and has a career 7.8 bWAR.

In essence, Frazier is a league average bat who can provide above average defense at second base, and other positions as well. He’ll provide about 2.5-3.0 WAR a season, which is starting level. Plus he still has two full years of control in both 2021 and 2022 through arbitration. While he isn’t going to reel in a top 100 prospect, unless he is packaged with another player, or a team gets extremely desperate, he could still bring in a quality player with a high ceiling.

New York Yankees

Now you might first be scratching your head at this one. Their middle infield is set with D.J. LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres at second base and shortstop. But this is a team that is extremely injury prone. Last year, many of their top offensive forces like Luke Voit, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Miguel Andujar missed most of, or good chunks of 2019 because of injury. Stanton and Judge look like they’ll be opening the 2020 season on the injured list.

But the Yankees were partly bailed out by breakout performances by Mike Ford, Gio Urshela, Mike Tauchman, and even to some extent LeMahieu. Many questions, especially about Ford, Urshela, and Tauchman, are going to come up. Can they reproduce, or come close to the numbers they produced in 2019, or will they go back to being the Quad-A roster depth they were before 2019? Can Andujar comeback after missing most of 2019? Will LeMahieu be the MVP candidate he was in 2019, or will he be the solid, but not spectacular bat he was before? How long will Judge and Stanton be out?

Frazier would provide some stability and durability for the Yankees. He also might see his power numbers get a bit of a boost with Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch. The Bucs could try to package Frazier and Chris Archer for (Clint) Frazier, among other notable names like pitcher Nick Nelson, or pitcher Albert Abreu.

San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres created a hole at second base when they traded away former top 20 prospect Luis Urias. Then they went out, and fixed the problem,..sorta. They first acquired former number one overall prospect Jurickson Profar from the Oakland A’s. Despite the switch hitter being ranked as the number one prospect many years ago (2012-2013), Profar has yet to establish himself at the big league level.

The closest he got was in 2018 when Profar batted .254/.335/.458 with 20 home runs, resulting in a 107 OPS+ and wRC+, but that was definitely helped by a hitter friendly home ballpark with the Rangers (.874 home OPS, .712 away OPS). Last year, Profar hit .218/.301/.410 with 20 home runs across 518 plate appearances. Defensively, he was one of the worst second basemen in the baseball with a -15 DRS and -0.4 dWAR. He posted a bWAR of just 0.8. However, he did hit left handers extremely well, clocking in with a .305/.378/.457 line vs southpaws.

The Friars also signed Brian Dozier right before spring training started. Dozier used to be one of the perennial top sluggers in MLB, blasting 76 home runs between 2016 and 2017. But has recently declined significantly. Last season, Dozier hit .235/.340/.430 with 20 home runs, and a 95 OPS+ and a 99 wRC+. Along with his offense, Dozier is no longer the defensive infielder he once was. At the keystone, he posted a -5 DRS, 1.7 UZR, and 2.1 UZR/150. This is all after a season where he posted a sub-.700 OPS and 0.9 fWAR in 2018. Although there is still a bit of hope for Dozier. Last year during the months of June and July, the right-handed slugger hit .272/.385/.517 with eight home runs across 179 plate appearances. Dozier, like Profar, crushed LHP, hitting .280/.375/.525.

But Dozier and Profar are far from options that you’d like to rely on for an entire season. This was the second straight season Dozier posted a sub-100 wRC+ and OPS+. Profar has a career 88 OPS+ and a 2.8 bWAR and 4.0 fWAR. In an Adam Frazier-centered trade, the Bucs could probably get back one of the team’s young pitchers like Adrian Morejon, Ryan Weathers, or Cal Quantrill.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers could be a surprise contender for a Wild Card spot when the season opens up. They have a rotation headed by Corey Kluber leading Lance Lynn and Mike Minor. On the other side of the ball, Joey Gallo will lead Willie Calhoun (when he recovers from the broken jaw), Shin-Soo Choo, Elvis Andrus, Robinson Chirinos, and Todd Frazier in the line-up.

But second base is an issue for the Rangers. Despite hitting 30 home runs, Rougned Odor was one of the worst players in 2019. He finished the year limping to a .205/.283/.439 line, and a 79 OPS+. His defense was ranked below average with -5 DRS, and -4.0 UZR. Only six players posted a wRC+ lower than Odor’s 77, but all but two of them posted a higher fWAR. Odor also had a negative bWAR at -0.3, and a 0.3 fWAR. Odor was a strikeout machine. He struck out 30.6% of the time, which was the second most in the Majors. Prospect Nick Solak is probably the next in line if Odor has another year like 2019, but he could also be an option at center field depending on how 2019 breakout Danny Santana fares in regular playing time when the 2020 season starts. Both could post below average results, which wouldn’t be all that surprising.

While the Rangers don’t necessarily have a deep farm system, or one with many recognizable names on prospect leader boards, they do have a few young arms that could draw some interest. I would definitely ask about former top 50 prospect Kolby Allard, as well as utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa.