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Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Targets in Latest Richard Rodríguez Trade Rumors
With reliever Richard Rodríguez garnering interest from the Toronto Blue Jays on the trade market, who could the Pittsburgh Pirates potentially target in any trade talks circles around Rodríguez
The beginning of July is finally among us, which marks an almost holiday-like atmosphere for Pittsburgh Pirates fans as it is when trade rumors really start heating up as the trade deadline day of July 30th inches closer and closer.
A team showing interest in Richard Rodríguez is the Toronto Blue Jays. Robert Murray, a former guest on the Rum Bunter podcast, broke the news that the market for Rodríguez was gaining more traction but the Jays are one of those teams that want him.
Rodríguez has been posting career highs in several different categories this season with the Pittsburgh Pirates such as WHIP, ERA, FIP, and opponent’s batting average. Not only is he performing at a career-high level, but Rich Rod also is under team control for three more seasons as 2022 is his first arbitration year. These two things combined make him the perfect trade target for any competitive team that needs help in the pen.
Let’s take a look at a few potential positional and pitching prospects that the Pittsburgh Pirates may try to target if a deal was to get done between them and the Blue Jays.
Gabriel Moreno
Gabriel Moreno would be a great acquisition for the Pittsburgh Pirates as it could help to bolster the farm system in an area of need, which is catching. Moreno is a 21-year old catching prospect that is ranked as Toronto’s sixth-best prospect by MLB Pipeline.
Moreno has been lighting up the AA Northeast this season as he carries a .373 average, 8 HRs and an OPS of 1.092. The main concern with Moreno though is his fielding as each of the last two seasons he has allowed 11 passed balls. He has looked promising this year, as he has yet to allow a single ball to get past him.
Leo Jimenez
The next player to look at is second baseman, Leo Jimenez. He is ranked as the Blue Jays twelfth overall prospect. Jimenez seems like he would be a player who would turn out to be a player like Adam Frazier is. That would be a great defender who can get on base consistently but has very little power.
Jimenez is still looking for his first homer in pro ball as he is reaching his 100th career game, which is supportive of his 35 power rating by MLB Pipeline. In 49 games, he has only allowed 6 errors and carries a batting average of .301 in his 123 plate appearances this season.
Additionally, like Frazier, Jimenez also plays a variety of positions. Jimenez has played at second, short, and third base so far in his minor league career, which would help to make him a nice utility player down the road.
Dasan Brown
The last positional target to look at would be Dasan Brown. Brown is a 19-year-old outfield prospect who was drafted in the third round of the 2019 draft. Brown is ranked as the Jays 15th best prospect and carries a future value of 45 according to MLB Pipeline.
With the minor league season being canceled last year, Brown has very little pro ball data, which makes him a little more of a riskier type of player to trade for. He has only had 49 ABs in the minors and carries a .224 average with 5 RBIs and 6 stolen bases.
Simeon Woods Richardson
Simeon Woods Richardson is the best of the six total players that are on this list, which would also make him the hardest to get. Richardson is the Blue Jays’ 4th best prospect and was the 48th overall pick in the 2019 draft.
Richardson excels at keeping the ball in the ballpark, as he has only allowed 9 HRs in his 156.2 innings of work in the minors. Also he pretty good at limiting traffic on the basepaths as he carries a career WHIP of 1.1. Lastly, he’s good at getting punch outs as his K/9 in his 8 starts at Double-A this season is up to 13.8.
CJ Van Eyk
CJ Van Eyk is another prospect who has only a little bit of pro ball data as he was drafted 42nd overall in the 2020 draft. Van Eyk is ranked as the Blue Jays tenth-best prospect. He carries a four-pitch repertoire as he throws a fastball, slider, curveball, and a changeup. MLB Pipeline says that this year will be big for him and to expect his stock to rise as the Blue Jays will be graduating some top arms from their farm system.
So far this season, Van Eyk has been getting lit up as he carries a 2-2 record with a 5.84 ERA and a WHIP of 1.41 in 37 innings of work. Additionally, he has been taken deep three times but has a K/9 of 10.22. When all of this is taken into account, it makes Van Eyk more of a riskier prospect to take but he still has a great upside.
Adam Kloffenstein
The last prospect to look at is Adam Kloffenstein. Kloffenstein is Toronto’s ninth-best prospect just ahead of Van Eyk. Kloffenstein has the same four-pitch repertoire as Van Eyk but is seen as a bigger risk than Van Eyk as he has not been too good this season. In High-A he has a record of 2-3 with a 6.88 ERA and a WHIP of 1.82.
This is could just be attributed to not having a season last year and being rusty, as these numbers are nowhere near what he is accustomed to. Going back to his 2019 season in short A, he had a 4-4 record with a 2.24 ERA and a WHIP of 1.06. These numbers are more indicative of why he is a top ten prospect in the Jays farm, but his bad 2021 season can’t be ignored.
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Due to having such a huge difference in his performance between the two seasons, Kloffenstein is a prospect who carries a very high risk, high reward style of prospect as he could end up being a bust or a future upper rotation kind of guy.