Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Chicago Continues to be Connected to Adam Frazier

The Pittsburgh Pirates new Front Office has made one thing clear when making deals, they want a proper return, and it does not matter how you get to that value.  The team has time and time again taken younger prospects in deals if it meant getting better value.  The counter to this would be the Gerrit Cole trade where value was lost in trading for Major League-ready talent.

The Chicago White Sox are in win-now mode, which means they are looking to build around their current core.  Now like most teams, it will be hard to pry the team’s premier-rated prospects.  Players like Jarred Kelley and Andrew Vaughn are likely going to be untouchable in talks.  Although, Jon Heyman did suggest that Pittsburgh Pirates could target Vaughn in talks.  This could make sense as the White Sox have plenty of depth at the corners.

If the Pittsburgh Pirates can truly get two-to-three top 150 type prospects in baseball, then chances are the White Sox will have to include more than less.  The first prospect I would ask for would be starter Mathew Thompson.  Thompson is the team’s number nine prospect with upside.  He was drafted in 2019 out of high school in the second round.  He was viewed as a first-round talent but had some question marks surrounding him as a pitcher.  Seems like he could be an upside arm that would fit into what Ben Cherington is trying to do.

The next prospect I would target in talks is their number 19 prospect Lenyn Sosa.  Sosa is considered to be a relatively advanced hitter for his age, just 21 years old.  The team was aggressive with him skipping over Low-A altogether and sending him to High-A for 2021.  That shows you the potential the White Sox believe he has in his bat.  He is a second baseman and scouts believe he could play third as well.

The final player in the deal would likely be someone on the White Sox 40-man roster. Outfielder Blake Rutherford would make sense in this package.  Rutherford was once viewed as a premier prospect in the White Sox system after acquiring him from the Yankees for David Robertson.

The former first-round pick has since been passed up by other outfield prospects in the system.  Still, he makes a lot of sense for the Pittsburgh Pirates who are in need of outfield help.  With the team losing Travis Swaggerty for the year, Rutherford could help fill the void in the more near-term future. Rutherford still has some upside as an athletic left-handed bat.