Pittsburgh Pirates: Spring Training Injuries Creating Trade Possibilities

Spring Training injuries are starting to happen which could open a trade opportunity for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates dealt most of the veteran talent on their roster this offseason. Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon were all traded throughout this past winter for large prospect hauls. In total, they got 11 prospects back between the trio.

However, there are still some players on the roster who have value that the Pirates are open to trading. Of their veteran roster pieces, second baseman/utility man Adam Frazier, reliever Richard Rodriguez and starting pitcher Steven Brault are the four most prominent.

Brault and Rodriguez are coming off career best seasons. The former is a southpaw who had a 3.38 ERA, 3.92 FIP and 1.20 WHIP in 42.2 innings of work. In 5 of the 11 games Brault appeared in, he pitched multiple innings without giving up a single run. The Pittsburgh Pirates would probably like to capitalize on his trade value, which is currently sitting at a career high, given his sub-par ERA estimators.

Rodriguez bounced back from a rough 2019 season and put up a 2.70 ERA, 2.85 FIP and 0.86 WHIP in 23.1 innings. He also put up career bests in strikeout rate (36.6%), walk rate (5.4%), xFIP (2.83) and SIERA (2.40).

Rich Rod gives up a lot of hard contact with a 91.7 MPH exit velocity and 51% hard hit rate, both of which were among the worst in baseball in 2020. But there’s still value to be had given his great numbers in 2018 and ranking in the top 92nd percentile in fastball spin rate.

Frazier has been the Pirates’ primary second baseman the past two seasons, but with so many young middle infielders in the organization Frazier will likely get traded at some point. Although he got off to a cold start to the 2020 season, Frazier ended on a high note having a .338 wOBA and 111 wRC+ through the second half of the season.

He’s also one of the top defenders at the keystone having +3 DRS, a 5.1 UZR/150 and 1.5 range runs above average at second the past two seasons while also being among the leaders in outs above average. Frazier also has plenty of outfield experience where he has 987.1 innings and +9 DRS, a 1.5 UZR/150 and 2.9 range runs above average.

Spring Training has just begun, but some teams are already facing injuries to very prominent players.

Arizona Diamondbacks’ right fielder Kole Calhoun underwent knee surgery. San Diego Padres’ left-handed reliever Jose Castillo has already suffered forearm soreness before pitching an entire inning. Another San Diego Padre who will likely miss the start of the 2021 season is starter Dinselson Lamet who finished 4th in National League Cy Young voting in 2020.

Another pitcher who got Cy Young votes whose condition is now questionable is Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez. Valdez fractured his finger after taking a ground ball off the bat of Francisco Lindor and might even miss the entirety of the 2021 season recovering from surgery. There are many other smaller injuries, but it just goes to show that the injuries are starting to build up in the first week.

This is all through just the first week of Spring Training and there’s already an opportunity for the Pittsburgh Pirates to swing a trade involving one of their veteran players. Prominent Spring Training deals aren’t the rarest thing to happen and with the Pirates still very open to moving players for prospects, another notable trade shouldn’t be ruled out.