Pittsburgh Pirates: Proposing A Steven Brault Trade With The Giants

Starter Steven Brault’s value is at an all-time high. With the Pittsburgh Pirates in a rebuild, the time to trade him is now.

One of the starting pitchers the Pittsburgh Pirates reportedly have on the trading block is lefty Steven Brault. This makes Brault one of the few left-handed starting pitchers available on the trade market.

Brault had a career year last year last season. He pitched to the tune of a 3.38 ERA, 3.99 FIP and 1.19 WHIP in 42.2 innings of work. So far, these are single season best numbers for the left hander. He also had career bests in strikeout rate (21.3%), HR/9 (0.42), ground ball rate (49.1%) and exit velocity (85.3 MPH).

Brault also had a solid stretch of games in 2019. From the beginning of May to September 1st, Brault pitched 86.1 innings with a 3.52 ERA, 4.13 FIP and 1.39 WHIP. During this stretch Brault worked both as a starter and a reliever, but it was primarily as a starter.

While Brault was a solid pitcher in 2020, there’s still a bit of concern with the left hander. He still walked a ton of batters with a 12.6% walk rate. He also had a 5.07 SIERA, 4.85 xFIP, 4.49 xERA and 5.13 DRA. Also, he was worth a WAR of just 0.1  from 2016 to 2018 in 159.2 innings pitched during those three seasons.

In the last two years, however, Brault has averaged 1.8 fWAR/150 innings. While that isn’t a great mark, he’s roughly a 40-40+ grade player. A backend starting pitcher and up and down SP/RP. Plus there are very few left handed starting pitchers available on the trade market who could be solid backend starters. Brault also comes with three years of arbitration control remaining, making him relatively inexpensive in terms of salary. He’s projected to make around $1.5-$2.5 million in arbitration for the 2021 season.

One team that has been in the market for starting pitching is the San Francisco Giants. The Giants are coming off a 29-31 season where they just barely missed the playoffs. Currently, their rotation consists of former Cincinnati Reds’ ace Johnny Cueto, veterans Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani and former prospects Logan Webb and Tyler Beede.

The Giants have already lost Drew Smyly in free agency to the Atlanta Braves and could lose another arm in Trevor Cahill as he is a free agent too. Another arm they are looking to move on from is Jeff Samardzjia. At the non-tender deadline, the team let Tyler Anderson go. Losing four starting pitchers in the offseason could lead to the Giants going shopping to fill out their rotation, and it has been reported that Brault is available.

While they may not be willing to part with any of their high ranking prospects given their current situation, they may be willing to trade some of their lower tier prospects for controllable arms, like Brault. The Giants have a handful of large contracts in 2021 owed to veterans including Buster Posey, Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford and the aforementioned Cueto.

In return, the Pittsburgh Pirates should ask for right-hander Sean Hjelle. Hjelle stands at a towering 6’11, weighing 210 punds, which would tie him with Jon Rauch as the tallest MLB player ever. During 2019, Hjelle pitched between three different levels, that being Low-A, High-A and Double-A.

In total, he tossed 143.2 innings in 28 starts. In these innings, Hjelle had a solid 3.22 ERA, 2.85 FIP and 1.31 WHIP. Hjelle only walked 6% of the batters he faced while surrendering 6 long balls. He isn’t a big strikeout guy with a strikeout rate of just 22.6%, but his overall 3.76 K/BB ratio is very good. Hjelle did struggle some at Double-A, but got unlucky with a .430 BAbip in 25.1 innings despite having a 3.33 FIP and 3.59 xFIP compared to his 6.04 ERA.

Hjelle throws three pitches. While none are considered elite, none are considered bad either. His best is his fastball which comes in with a 55 future grade on FanGraphs. Hjelle only averages out in the 91-94 MPH and tops out at 96 MPH, but has shown strong spin on the pitch with 2500 RPM.

His primary breaking pitch is his curveball which has a 50 future grade. According to MLB Pipeline, the pitch plays like a knuckle-curve and could be a plus pitch in the future. His third pitch is a change up. This was a pitch he added during 2019. Both Pipeline and FanGraphs see it as a 50-grade pitch. Overall, his command is a plus with a future 55 grade on FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline gives his control a 55 grade as well.

In terms of value, this trade makes sense. Hjelle is a 40+ grade pitcher and ranked as the Giants’ 13th best prospect on FanGraphs. However, he turns 24 in May and with him nearly MLB ready, the Giants may want to hold onto him. If that’s the case, there is another right handed pitcher the Pittsburgh Pirates should go after.

The other pitcher is Kai-Wei Teng. Teng was acquired by the Giants from the Minnesota Twins, along with a few other prospects, at the 2019 trade deadline for relief pitcher Sam Dyson. The Taiwaneese born right-hander dominated hitters in the 79.2 innings with the Twins and Giants Single-A affiliates. All told, he posted a pristine 1.58 ERA, 2.21 FIP and 0.96 WHIP. Teng’s biggest strength was limiting home runs, allowing just one home run while posting a 53.7% ground ball rate with the Twins’ affiliate and 45.9% ground ball rate after the trade to San Francisco. However, he still struck out 27.5% of the batters he faced while allowing a free pass just 6.6% of the time.

Teng throws about as hard as Hjelle, sitting in the 91-94 MPH range and topping out at 96 with similar spin (2450). However, he throws three more pitches to go along with his fastball. His two breaking balls are a slider and curveball. His slider averaged 2500 RPM during 2019. He also throws a change-up. All of them have 50-future grades, giving him four pitches that grade out as average. His command is his best tool with a future 60 grade on FanGraphs and has a 55 control grade on MLB Pipeline.

Kai-Wei Teng turned 22 at the very beginning of December and has an MLB ETA of 2023, which falls right in line when the Pirates want to start competing. He’d likely start out 2021 at Advanced-A, but could end the year at Triple-A if he pitches anything like he did in 2019. He also has an intimidating frame of 6’4, 260. Notably, Teng has a smooth and easy delivery. Value wise, he has a 40 FV grade currently which as a headliner, would be worth Brault.

The Pittsburgh Pirates need to capitalize on Steven Brault’s value now. It’s at an all time high and his ERA estimators aren’t the best. The Giants would be a good fit in a Brault trade. They need durable starting pitching with some affordable control remaining and the Pittsburgh Pirates are starting to corner the starting pitching trade market. While they may not be willing to trade any high ranking prospects, they have a deep farm system and are willing to trade from some of their depth to get some pitching.