Pirates Rumors: Tyler Anderson, Chris Stratton Generating Interest

The Pittsburgh Pirates are expected to be one of the most active teams as the Trade Deadline approaches.

Last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off their 2021 Trade Deadline by dealing away second baseman Adam Frazier.  This deal has long been expected and kicks off what will be a very active week for Ben Cherington and staff.  The team has several other logical trade candidates who will likely be moved by the end of the week.

It seems like the Adam Frazier deal may have signaled to the rest of Major League Baseball that the Pittsburgh Pirates are officially are ready to make deals.  This was always the expectation for the rebuilding Bucs, but the question was when would that first domino fall.  It did last night, and now it looks like there could be several other players on the move.

There have been multiple rumors surrounding multiple of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers.  this including closer Richard Rodriguez.  However, Rodriguez might not even be the Buc’s most valuable bullpen piece.  For a few weeks now it has been floated that Chris Stratton could make sense as a trade chip.  Now it seems that Chris Stratton is definitely on the trade market. Along with Stratton, a Tyler Anderson trade seems to be gaining some steam.  Jon Heyman says talks have started on those two along with Rodriguez:

Stratton is having a really good season posting a 2.58 ERA.  Also, his spin rate numbers have dropped some, but not nearly as much as other pitchers have seen.  Stratton also has two more years of control which will always hold value and intrigue to potential suitors.

With Monday being an off day, the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff could look very different by Tuesday’s game. Potential teams to watch are the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics who have shown interest in Bucs pitching (according to Jon Morosi).  With that, basically, every contending team will be looking for arms.