Pittsburgh Pirates: Six Potential Joe Musgrove Trade Partners

Other Potential Teams

While the Jays, Yankees, Angels, Braves, Nationals and Astros are all likely going to be the most active in looking for some rotation arms, they’re not going to be the only ones in the market. I could see these teams looking into Musgrove and contacting the Pittsburgh Pirates as well.

Chicago White Sox

Like the Nationals, the White Sox have a strong 1-3 in Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel and Dane Dunning. They’ll also be joined by top 20 prospect Michael Kopech who sat out 2020 because of concerns with COVID-19. However, they do have a deep farm system with many young arms. Dunning, Kopech, Dylan Cease, Jonathan Stiever and Matt Foster all could round out their rotation.

Though someone like Musgrove would be a solid piece, and a pitcher they might kick the tires on, they have enough young arms and experienced arms that they don’t need to heavily pursue more pitching at this moment.

San Francisco Giants

The Giants had an outstanding offense last year, finishing with a team .785 OPS and 114 wRC+. Both of which ranked in the top-8 of MLB teams. However they could use some help on the pitching side of things. They had a team 4.64 ERA, 4.45 FIP and 1.32 WHIP. They got good performances out of starters like Drew Smyly, Kevin Gausman, and Trevor Cahill, but veterans Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzjia struggled throughout the year, and prospect Logan Webb also didn’t do great.

Gausman, Smyly and Cahill will be free agents, which could leave the Giants pretty barren in the starting pitching department. However, the Giants aren’t really going for it yet as some of their best prospects like Marco Luciano and Heliot Ramos are still another year or two away. Still, if they see themselves as potential contenders, they could also show some interest in a pitcher like Musgrove.

Miami Marlins

The Marlins are in a similar boat to the White Sox. They have plenty of young arms ready to take the reins for a team looking to re-enter competition. Pablo Lopez, Sixto Sanchez, Sandy Alcantara, and Elieser Hernandez are all 25 or younger. Jordan Yamamoto, Braxton Garrett and Daniel Castano are also young pitchers who could round out their rotation. They could be in the market for a good veteran presence to help solidify their rotation.

But in their current state, they might be more interested in pursuing someone like Trevor Bauer, or another top of the rotation type arm. But if they lose out on one of the other aces on the market, turning to Musgrove isn’t a bad constellation prize.