Pittsburgh Pirates: Revisiting Trade Rumors From the 2014 Trade Deadline

Amid a heated playoff race in 2014, the Pittsburgh Pirates were connected to many different left-handed pitchers at the 2014 trade deadline who would have helped to bolster the pitching staff.

At the 2014 MLB trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates entered the day owning a record of 57-50. Although they didn’t have the best of records, they were still in the midst of a playoff run. The Bucs were only a half game out of a National League Wild Card spot, and 2 games out in the division. They were only out of a playoff spot because of a slow start to the season where they went 10-16 through April.

Regardless, the Pittsburgh Pirates were in the thick of things, and in a prime position to make another run to the postseason. Like any other competing team around the end of July, the Pirates were deep into rumors. This year, they were into many rumors surrounding a handful of left handed pitchers.

The closest they got to acquiring any of the names I am going to talk about today is then Red Sox ace Jon Lester. Lester at the time, was a rental. He only had a the rest of the 2014 season of control left, but the Sox wanted a decent package for the left, and for a good reason. Lester had made the All-Star Game, and was a potential AL Cy Young Award candidate. Through July 30th, Lester had a 2.52 ERA, 2.50 FIP, and 1.12 WHIP in 143 innings of work. He had a solid 25.5% strikeout rate and a strong 5.5% walk rate. The southpaw also had a 0.57 HR/9.

Even up until the deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates were considered the favorite to land Lester. After all, Lester would be exactly what the Pirates needed. The Pirates were getting decent season from Francisco Liriano, Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, Gerrit Cole, and even some underrated players like Edinson Volquez, Vance Worley, but they didn’t have that one ace in the rotation. Plus considering that Lester had a strong postseason track record, including a pair of World Series rings, and 34.2 innings for the World Series winning Sox just the previous postseason and allowed just 6 earned runs.

The Pittsburgh Pirates fell short as they weren’t willing to part with Josh Bell, and the Red Sox ended up sending the lefty to the Oakland Athletics in one of the strangest  trades in recent history. But Lester wasn’t the only left handed pitcher who was considered a top of the rotation arm.

Lester became one of Oakland’s aces, along with Scott Kazmir, Sonny Gray and Jeff Samardzjia. In his final 76.2 innings, Lester allowed 20 earned runs, struck out 71 batters, but allowed only 16 free passes, and 7 home runs. He also started one of the most heartbreaking games in Oakland A’s history. In the 2014 AL Wild Card, where he allowed 3 runs in the 8th inning after the A’s were leading the Royals 7-3, allowing the Royals to tie the game, and eventually walk it off in the 12th inning.

The next lefty pitcher the Pittsburgh Pirates were rumored to be in talks with was the Tampa Bay Rays for ace David Price. Like Lester, Price was a potential AL Cy Young candidate. Through 170.2 innings, Price had a 3.11 ERA, 2.92 FIP and 1.05 WHIP. He struck out 27.4% of the batters he faced  to combat just 3.3% of the walks he handed out. Although he was a bit prone to home runs with a 1.05 HR/9, that was still forgivable speaking how good he was overall. Plus it’s not like he was home run prone in the past with a 0.7 HR/9 in the four past seasons.

Although he wasn’t as usually effective in the postseason as Lester was, he still would fit the mold of the ace of the rotation the Pirates needed. He also wasn’t a rental. Price was controllable through 2015, so he may have formed a deadly rotation the following year with Liriano, Cole and A.J. Burnett, assuming the Pirates would still sign Burnett. The Pirates weren’t as close to acquiring Price as they were with Lester, and the former Rays’ ace was sent to the Detroit Tigers in a three team trade that also included the Seattle Mariners.

This trade was also a bit of a strange one. At the time of the deal it was reported the Pirates had made the best offer in terms of prospects, but the Rays wanted players that were close to being MLB level, or young MLB players. So, Tampa Bay went in another direction.

Price formed a three headed monster at the top of the Tiger rotation with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. In 74.1 innings of work, Price had a 3.59 ERA, 2.44 FIP, and 1.15 WHIP. He struck out 82 batters, and allowed just 15 free passes and five long balls. He only pitched one postseason game for the Tigers, but he pitched masterfully. Despite receiving the loss for the game, while facing the Baltimore Orioles, Price allowed just 2 earned runs, and struck out 6 batters through 8 innings. The Tigers lost that game 2-1 in a game where the Tigers bats just couldn’t wake up.

The final left-handed pitcher the PittsburghPirates were connected to was another Red Sox pitcher. This time, a bullpen arm in the midst of a late career breakout, Andrew Miller. Miller’s career is best known for his outstanding work out of the Cleveland Indians bullpen in 2016, but also being part of a the Miguel Cabrera trade way back in the 2007-2008 off season.

Miller was formerly a top starting pitching prospect, but never blossomed in his time in Florida. After being tried as a starter in 2011 by the Red Sox, they made him a full-time pen arm in 2012 and 2013. In both season, the lefty missed a fair chunk of time, but was an excellent pitcher when he was healthy. In 71 innings of work, Miller had a 3.04 ERA, 3.12 FIP and 1.27 WHIP. Although he had a walk rate of 4.7 per 9 and a 12.2% walk rate, he was amazing at getting batters on strike three. In total, he struck out 99 batters, resulting in a 12.5 K/9, and 32.6% strikeout rate. He also only allowed a HR/9 of 0.8.

In 2014, Miller was healthy for the entire season, and improved upon his numbers from the previous two seasons. Up through July 30th, the former prospect had a 2.34 ERA, 1.61 FIP, and 0.90 WHIP in 42.1 innings of work. He was striking out batters at an even more absurd rate of 40.6%, and was walking them at a 7.7% rate, much better than his numbers from 2012 and 2013. He also cut his HR/9 in half to 0.4.

The Pirates bullpen in 2014 was really inconsistent through the first few months of the season. Eventually, they found who they could rely on in Mark Melancon, Tony Watson and Jared Hughes, but Justin Wilson did not follow up his strong 2013 rookie season with another good season. 2013 All-Star closer got off to a cold start, and was sent to the LA Angles for another struggling relief pitcher in Ernesto Frieri, who would end up dooming the Pirates 2014 postseason run. Miller would have provided stability in the back end of the pen, as well as adding a second extremely reliable left handed arm to pair with the lefty, Watson, and the righty, Melancon.

Miller was a rental at the time, but the Sox ended up getting back a pretty decent young pitcher in Eduardo Rodriguez from the Baltimore Orioles Although he was never a top 100 prospect, Rodriguez was still considered a talented, young pitcher. He has since become an integral part of the Red Sox rotation, and had a 5.9 bWAR last season.

Miller ended up doing pretty well for himself for the O’s, pitching 20 innings of 1.35 ERA, 1.13 FIP, 0.60 WHIP, and 34 strikeout ball. He also allowed just one home run, and gave up 4 free passes. He was also outstanding in the postseason for the Orioles and allowed one hit, and struck out eight batters in 7.1 innings he pitched.

Oddly enough, the Pittsburgh Pirates ended up not doing too much at the 2014 July deadline. The only move they made before the August deadline that impacted the major league roster was acquiring right handed relief pitcher John Axford.