Pittsburgh Pirates: Options of What to do With Kevin Newman

Trading Newman

There are still a handful of teams looking for shortstops. The New York Yankees are still in the market so they can move Gleyber Torres to second base. The Houston Astros will also explore their available options. The Philadelphia Phillies may also look to improve the situation over Didi Gregorious.

The problem is that shortstop was a massive strength of this offseason’s free-agent class. Before the lockout, Corey Seager and Javier Baez signed. Other shortstop capable options including Marcus Semien and Chris Taylor also signed before the transaction freeze. One of the more quality low-cost options is Freddy Galvis who headed overseas. The big fish, Carlos Correa is still a free agent, as is Trevor Story, another high-end free agent. Even then, there is still a myriad of solid low-cost options such as Andrelton Simmons, Jonathan Villar, and Jose Iglesias.

Newman also isn’t the only shortstop on the trade market. The Texas Rangers are now more than open to moving Isaiah Kiner-Falefa now that they signed both Seager and Semien. The Tampa Bay Rays may also look to move Taylor Walls for pitching given that they have two very high-quality middle infielders with former uber-prospect Wander Franco and slugging second baseman Brandon Lowe. The Arizona Diamondbacks may also look to move Gold Glove shortstop Nick Ahmed.

The option to trade Newman isn’t the greatest, but one to keep an open mind about. Unlike when they traded Jacob Stallings, Newman wasn’t the only starting-caliber player on the market, both free agent and trade market. The Pirates pretty much would have to wait until most of the free agents, as well as some of the trade candidates, move. However, I wouldn’t completely rule out a trade.