Pittsburgh Pirates: An Adam Frazier Trade Idea With the Blue Jays

Now that the Pittsburgh Pirates have traded both Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon it is clear that the total teardown of the roster is on. Both Musgrove and Taillon have one year of team control remaining after 2021 so, naturally, the next player on the block should be Adam Frazier who is also under team control until just 2022.

Frazier has been a Gold Glove finalist at second base each of the last two seasons and has a proven track record of being a league-average hitter. A team that could be in the market for Frazier is the Toronto Blue Jays who are looking to compete in the next two years and need infield help as well as utility depth.

Obviously, Cavan Biggio is an everyday player with the Blue Jays, but with Vlademir Guerrero Jr’s poor defense, he could be moved to third and Frazier could play most days at second along with spending the other days in a utility role.

So, what would a trade look like between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays for Adam Frazier?

There are two prospects that the Blue Jays could send over that make sense for both teams: shortstop/second baseman Otto Lopez and catcher Riley Adams. Baseball Trade Values accepts this trade with Frazier’s value being $5.7M and Lopez ($2.8M) and Adams ($2.1M) adding up to $4.9M.

The reason it makes sense for the Blue Jays is that they have plenty of MLB catchers and catching prospects, with Adams being the 3rd ranked Jays catching prospect. The same can be said for Lopez who is the 5th ranked middle infield prospect for a team that has one of the best young middle infields in baseball.

Lopez is 22 and is the Blue Jays 13th ranked prospect. He is a 55-grade hitter with a 50 grade for fielding and just like Frazier he could be a super-utility player in the majors. In 2019 playing A ball Lopez had an OPS of .796 in 447 at-bats and hit .324. MLB.com has his ETA as 2022 and he will start next season in Double-A or maybe even Triple-A and could make an early arrival in September 2021 if he can keep up the great hitting.

Adams is a 6’4″ 24-year-old with a 55 grade for fielding behind the plate and is the Jays 23rd ranked prospect. He has a .773 OPS in three years in the minors and has an ETA of 2021 since he made it to AA in 2019. Adams also has a 50-grade arm that has led to a caught stealing rate of 39.2% during his time in the minors. He will make the majors in 2021 or ’22 because of his defense and he could take over Jacob Stallings starting job if his offense becomes consistent.

The trade makes a lot of sense for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they give up Frazier who won’t be a part of any successful Pirates team in the future and they get a utility prospect and a catching prospect, both positions of need for the future, that will be in the Majors by 2022.