Pittsburgh Pirates: Six Potential Joe Musgrove Trade Partners

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays were actually the team that made the hard push for Musgrove and nearly acquired him at the deadline this year, and also were the team to draft him with the 46th selection in the 2011 MLB Draft. Toronto currently has a very good number one starter in Korean southpaw Hyun-Jin Ryu, and a very promising prospect in Nate Pearson, but the rest of the rotation leaves much to be desired. This makes the Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates potential trade partners

Currently, Matt Shoemaker and Tanner Roark make up the next two spots in their rotation. While neither are awful backend starters, they would be their number three and number four starters. Their number five spot would be completely up for grabs.

The Jays acquired Ross Stripling from the LA Dodgers at the deadline, but he looks to be more of a swingman than their regular number five . Prospect Anthony Kay could also be another option for the numer five spot as he was a starting pitching prospect, but moved to the pen when he made the Majors. Sean Reid-Foley is in the same boat as Kay. T.J. Zeuch, Ryan Borucki, Trent Thorton, Tom Hatch, and Shun Yamaguchi all were long relief or swingmen for the Jays in 2020 and all have experience as starting pitchers.

Still, even if they opt to go with one of their multiple answer for the last three spots, none are ones you would want to enter a season with, especially if you are trying to compete. The Jays have a strong, young hitting core consisting of Vlad Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Rowdy Tellez, Teoscar Hernandez, Danny Jansen or Alejandro Kirk with more on the way. They also have a solid bullpen, but the lack of good starting pitching will hurt the Jays. They’ll definitely be in the market for starting pitchers which makes Big Joe a prime candidate for them to target. The Ben Cherington connection could also be a factor here for the Pittsburgh Pirates.