Pittsburgh Pirates: Revisiting the Joe Musgrove Trade

In the last calendar year the Pittsburgh Pirates have made two trades with the San Diego Padres, 10 months later we review the first of these two trades

On January 19th the Pittsburgh Pirates swung a three-team, six-layer trade. This trade saw the Pirates send right-handed starting pitcher Joe Musgrove to the San Diego Padres. In this trade the Padres sent lefty Joey Lucchesi to the New York Mets, which got led to another prospect being traded to the Pirates.

In the trade the Pittsburgh Pirates received for players in return for Musgorve. From the Padres the Pirates received right-handed reliever David Bednar, left-handed pitching prospect Omar Cruz and outfield prospect Hudson Head. The Mets sent catching prospect Endy Rodriguez to the Pittsburgh Pirates as part of the deal.

The highest rated of these four players was Head, who was viewed as the headliner in the trade. Rodriguez was viewed as the prospect who be the catcher of the future for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bednar was the lone MLB ready piece acquired, and Cruz was viewed as a pitcher who could be a middle-to-back of the rotation arm down the road.

Following their first season in the Pirate organization has anything changed on the long-term outlook for these four players? How did their first year in the organization go? With the trade having been made 10 months ago this past Tuesday, let’s attempt to look back on a review the trade that saw the Pittsburgh Pirates send Musgrove to the West Coast.

Catcher Endy Rodriguez

The 21-year-old Rodriguez had a strong season with the Low-A Bradenton Marauders in 2021. Rodriguez played in 98 games and logged 434 plate appearances. These were both new career highs for Rodriguez.

In his 434 PAs Rodriguez hit for a .294/.380/.512 slash line to go with a 140 wRC+. Rodriguez hit 15 home runs and collected extra base hits at a 10.6% rate. The switch hitter walked in a strong 11.5% of his trips to the plate, while he struck out just 17.6% of the time.

While catcher remained the primary position for Rodriguez he did bounce around the diamond in 2021. Rodriguez made 54 appearances at catcher, 18 at first base and 4 in left field. He also made starts as the designated hitter for the Marauders.

When the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Henry Davis the odds of Rodriguez remaining the catcher of the future appeared to take a hit. That said, with the put hitting ability of Rodriguez he will have a future with the Pirates. Watching what Rodriguez can do offensively with Double-A Altoona in 2022 will be fun for Pirate fans to watch.

Outfielder Hudson Head

FanGraphs currently ranks Head as the 13th best prospect in the Pirate farm system. The left-handed hitting outfielder was the 84th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft and is still just 20-years-old.

In 434 PAs across 101 games played with Bradenton in 2021 Head had a very strange season. His .213/.362/.394 slash line was a strange one. This resulted in Head posting a 113 wRC+ for the Marauders.

For Head the on-base skills were there. He drew walks at a borderline elite 15.7% rate. However, he did strikeout at a concerning 31.6% rate. The strikeout rate should not come as a huge surprise as the biggest concern for Head has always been the swing-and-miss.

Hudson did improve his line drive rate in 2021, however, hitting line drives at a 22.1% rate. This was a 4% increase over his line drive rate from the 2019 season. His isolated slugging (ISO) also improved from .133 in 2019 to .181 in 2021.

It will be curious to see where Head starts the 2022 season. Logic would point toward him starting at High-A Greensboro after spending an entire season at Low-A. Head will need to improve his swing-and-miss rate in 2022 if he is going to continue to rank among the top prospects in the Pirate farm system.

Left-handed pitcher Omar Cruz

Cruz started the season with High-A Greensboro and made 7 starts. Following these 7 starts the lefty was promoted to Double-A Altoona where he made 14 more starts before his season came to an end.

Cruz posted a 3.45 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 1.26 HR/9, 11.9% walk rate and a 32.2% strikeout rate with the Grasshoppers. After being promoted to the Curve, Cruz posted a 3.444 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 0.76 HR/9, 7.3% walk rate and strikeout rate of 19.9%.

Outside of strikeout rate, all of Cruz’s numbers improved after being promoted the Double-A level. That said, any pitcher or team will sacrifice strikeout rate for a lower walk rate, home run rate, ERA and FIP following a promotion.

Neither starting the 2022 season back with Altoona nor starting the season with Triple-A Indianapolis would come as a surprise for Cruz. Either way a potential MLB debut, rather as a starter or a reliever, should not be ruled out for 2022.

The Pittsburgh Pirates did well

All in all, it appears the Pittsburgh Pirates did well in the Musgrove trade. Musgrove is set to hit free agency following the 2022 season and was not going to re-sign with the Pirates. The Padres failing to make the postseason despite being a preseason NL favorite should be a factor here as well.

The Pittsburgh Pirates traded a pitcher who was closing in on a free agency, during a time where the team was not going to compete, for a quartet of quality players. This includes a potential dominant All-Star reliever, a plus MLB hitter in Rodriguez and Head who could be a big building block.

In the long run the Musgrove trade could prove to be one of general manager Ben Cherington’s best. This is something that will not be able to truly be graded for a few years, but things look good for the Pirates right now.