Pittsburgh Pirates: Trades Left to be Made

The Pittsburgh Pirates have traded almost all of their valuable veterans over the past two years, but is there any players left to trade?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been in a rebuild since the last days of the 2019 season. This started when they fired longtime manager Clint Hurdle. The first big player trade was Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In return, they got back two players, that being Liover Peguero, one of the best shortstop prospects in the minor leagues, and 2019 first rounder Brennan Malone.

The rebuild would only further continue into the next offseason. They sent off Josh Bell for two pitching prospects, Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean. Then they traded Joe Musgrove to the San Diego Padres for Hudson Head, Eddy Yean, David Bednar, Omar Cruz, and Drake Fellows. Their last big trade of the 2020-2021 offseason was with the New York Yankees. They traded Jameson Taillon to the Yanks for Miguel Yajure, Roansy Contreras, Canaan Smith-Njigba, and Maikol Escotto.

Over this past summer the Pittsburgh Pirates traded with the San Diego Padres again, this time trading Adam Frazier for Tucupita Marcano, Jack Suwinski, and Michell Miliano. Then Richard Rodríguez was dealt to the Atlanta Braves for Bryse Wilson and Ricky DeVito. They also made a handful of other smaller trades with Clay Holmes to the Yankees for Diego Castillo and Hoy Park, Austin Davis to the Red Sox for Michael Chavis, and Braeden Ogle to the Phillies for Abrahan Gutierrez.

It’s been over 2 years since the rebuild started. The Pittsburgh Pirates have traded almost all of their valuable veterans remaining. So are there any players left the Pirates can trade?

The first player I want to look at is right-hander Chris Stratton. Stratton will be entering his fourth campaign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stratton provided the Pittsburgh Pirates a ton of innings, pitching 79 in total across 68 games played. All told, he had a 3.63 ERA, 3.76 FIP, and 1.30 WHIP. Stratton had a solid 25.5% strikeout rate and 1.02 HR/9, though his walk rate was a bit high at 9.8%. Stratton is a spin rate darling, being in the top 99th percentile of fastball spin, and top 98th percentile of curveball spin.

Stratton’s ERA estimators were solid, but unspectacular at the very best. The right-hander had a 4.09 xFIP, 3.86 SIERA, and 4.30 DRA (93 DRA-). Nothing awful, but nothing fantastic either. Stratton is controlled through the 2023 season, so he does come with 2 years of control remaining. Overall, he’s far from the worst relief option if a team were to pursue him as he can give them a ton of solid innings.

The next guy I want to talk about is outfielder Ben Gamel. The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Gamel off waivers from the Cleveland Indians and it proved to be a solid claim. Gamel provided the Pirates with an on-base threat, batting .255/.352/.399 with a .328 wOBA, and 105 wRC+. Gamel didn’t show off much power, having an isolated slugging percentage of just .144. But he had a strong 12.5% walk rate.

At best, Gamel was an average outfield defender. He had -10 DRS and was in the bottom 1st percentile of outs above average, but had a solid 2.5 UZR/150 and .9 outfield arm runs above average. Though a lot of Gamel’s poor defensive work came when he was a center fielder. He was considered an above-average glove in the outfield corners.

Gamel is only controlled through this season, but the Pirates don’t have a lot of quality outfield options going into 2022. Unless they view that Jared Oliva can produce similar or better results than Gamel, the veteran outfielder will likely enter 2022 as one of the Pirate starting outfielders. Granted with Smith-Njiba and 2018 first-rounder Travis Swaggerty on the verge of making the majors, the Pittsburgh Pirates would probably trade Gamel if they get what they are loo
king for.

The last player I think the Pittsburgh Pirates would trade, given the opportunity, is Colin Moran. Moran is coming off a season where he hit just .258/.334/.390 with a .318 wOBA, and 98 wRC+. The first baseman only appeared in 99 games and collected 359 plate appearances as he suffered hand injuries throughout the season. Arguably, those hand injuries considerably slowed him down. Moran got off to a great start to 2021, batting .297/.352/.468 with a .352 wOBA, and 121 wRC+ before his first IL stint.

As a defender, Moran was moved over to first base to accommodate for the highly talented Ke’Bryan Hayes. Plus he struggled with the leather at the hot corner. While Moran wasn’t nearly as bad of a defender at first compared to third, he was still well below average, having -4 DRS, -3 outs above average, and -6.1 UZR/150.

Moran is also controllable through the 2023 season. While he has control remaining, Moran is currently nothing more than a solid platoon bat on a good team. He hits decently against right-handers, but poorly vs lefties. The Pirates also don’t have a good option to be the regular first baseman or designated hitter (assuming it returns in 2022), at least to start the season. Now the Pirates do have Mason Martin waiting in the wings. Plus, if they re-sign Yoshi Tsutsugo, the chances of Moran being traded go up. But as things stand right now, I don’t see Moran being moved unless Cherington gets back what he is looking for.

Some might consider Jacob Stallings as a potential trade candidate, but I doubt that the Pirates would be as willing to trade him compared to Stratton, Gamel, or Moran. He brings a lot of value, not just because he’s an outstanding defender, but also because he can greatly help the young pitchers in the organization that is looking to make their debuts in 2022.

While the Pittsburgh Pirates may consider all of these guys potential trade pieces, they’re not ones that absolutely need to be moved. The chances that they bring back anything of significant value on their own. Stratton may be the most valuable given his solid track record over the last few seasons and controllability, but even then, he’s not considered a high-leverage reliever, or one of the highest-end pitcher available between the trade market or relief market. Still, the Pirates shouldn’t turn down any offers where they get fair value back or greater back for them, though I wouldn’t be too worried as Cherington has done very well with trades so far in his tenure as GM.