Pittsburgh Pirates: Change of Scenery Trade Deadline Targets

The Pittsburgh Pirates should consider these five change-of-scenery prospects when discussing trades this upcoming deadline.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to get some prospects back for some of their rental pieces. José Quintana and Ben Gamel are the likeliest players to get traded from the current roster. Although it will be very tough to say goodbye to Quintana, the Pirates have more than enough outfield depth between Travis Swaggerty, Ji-Hwan Bae, Bligh Madris, and Cal Mitchell to fill the shoes that Gamel will leave behind.

Regardless, the Pittsburgh Pirates will look to add further reinforcements to an already strong farm system. The team is building for the future and is much closer to being ready to contend than they were a year ago. The Pirates should be looking for guys who are, or are nearly ready to see some time in the majors. In any case, I think they should explore the possibility of getting a change-of-scenery prospect.

So what is a change-of-scenery prospect? To me, it’s a prospect whose stock has fallen for a few reasons. They could be underperforming expectations, they could be facing some injuries, or they could be blocked by other players for the last year or two. For one reason or another, they might not be considered a vital part of their current team’s long-term future.

Now, these guys aren’t going to be deal makers or deal breaker-type prospects. They’re guys that the Pirates should only get as deal sweeteners, or if they send cash or receive an underwater contract but nonetheless, I think the Pirates should at least entertain the idea.

LHP Adrian Morejon

It wasn’t that long ago that Adrian Morejon was one of baseball’s youngest pitchers. He made his debut back in 2019 in his age-20 campaign but has yet to pitch even 20 innings in a single season. He has just 37.2 innings under his belt in total.

Injuries and the acquisitions of Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Adrian Martinez, Mike Clevinger, and Sean Manea have set back the former first-round pick. The Padres have essentially built a brand new rotation through free agency and trades since Morejon made his debut.

It’s not that Morejon hasn’t been a good pitcher; it’s that he’s been injured. The last time he pitched more than 50 innings in a single season was in 2018. Throughout his minor league career, he has a quality 26.7% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. When he’s healthy, he can fire mid-90s fastballs through the zone with a knee-buckling change-up, along with a quality curveball.

Morejon is back in action and has 13.1 innings pitched in the minors this year. It’s a small sample size, but he has 20 strikeouts, has allowed just two to reach on walks, and has given up a total of nine hits, only one of which is a home run.

Like we talked about earlier with Ryan Weathers, the Padres have said before they’re willing to deal from their pitching depth and are looking to shed some payroll. Getting Morejon in a deal where the Pirates don’t have to take on a long-term liability like Hosmer would be the most ideal scenario. Like with Weathers, a Pomeranz-plus-Morejon or Lamet-plus-Morejon would be something to at least consider.

OF Estevan Florial

It seems like every year, the New York Yankees have an opportunity to give Estevan Florial a shot to prove himself, even as a 4th outfielder, and every year, they have a veteran they’d rather give an attempt to. It was Brett Gardner in 2020 and 2021, and now it’s Matt Carpenter and Marwin Gonzalez. Granted, Gonzalez and Carpenter have been great pick-ups for the Yanks, but it only means the Yankees are less inclined to give Florial a chance.

Despite not getting a shot with the Yankees, Florial has been a beast at Triple-A this season. In 301 plate appearances, the outfield prospect is batting .303/.385/.534 with a .398 wOBA and 142 wRC+. He currently leads all Yankee’s minor leaguers in OPS while being second in wOBA and wRC+ (min. 200 trips to the plate).

Florial has power and speed. He has swiped 27 bases in 32 attempts and has a dozen homers. Florial uses his speed to the tool’s fullest potential with an OBP approaching .400 and a walk rate of 11.6%. The only red flags are his .410 batting average on balls in play and 28.9% strikeout rate. But with a high line-drive rate, he will likely have a bit of a high BAbip.

Florial is a good fielder as well. He’s a center fielder by trade but can obviously play the corners. He has a powerful arm that can play in any outfield spot. The strikeouts are a concern, but if that’s the only significant warning sign for Florial, it’s odd that the Yankees keep pushing him down on the depth chart.

Now take this next part with a heaping grain of salt, but according to Baseball Trade Values, Florial has just a +1.0 value. With Luis Severino undergoing an MRI, could we see the Yankees kick the tires on Quintana? Maybe the Pittsburgh Pirates can get a good pitching prospect like T.J. Sikkema or Yoendrys Gomez and get Florial as an add-on in a Quintana trade? That’s just spitballing a trade idea, but either way, Florial could likely be had for a low cost that wouldn’t involve the Pirates’ southpaw starter.

LHP Jay Groome

Jay Groome was the 12th overall selection by the Boston Red Sox in the 2016 draft. But Groome missed all of 2018 and most of 2019 because of Tommy John surgery. Then with the suspended season in 2020, Groome logged just four innings on the mound across three seasons. He returned healthy in 2021 but struggled, though he has pitched well enough to earn a promotion to Triple-A in 2022.

He’s tossed 76.2 innings with the Red Sox’s Double-A affiliate, posting a healthy 3.52 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and 24.9% strikeout rate. But there are some underlying issues. He’s also walked batters at an 11.7% pace and has given up 11 home runs, leading to a sub-par 1.29 HR/9. His unimpressive home run and walk rate gives him a 4.92 FIP. But it is worth noting that four of the 11 home runs he has given up and eight of the 30 earned runs he’s surrendered all came in one start. Outside of that outing, his ERA is 2.65, and his HR/9 is 0.84

Groome’s injury has caused him to lose some velocity. He primarily works in the low-90s but can crank it up to 94-95 MPH in shorter outings. His curveball and slider are both above-average offerings, and his change-up is a solid offering. He only uses his change vs. right-handed batters, though. Lefties obliterated the pitch, posting a .890 OPS against it in 2021.

Groome could be part of a bigger deal between the Red Sox and Pirates. The Sox need some serious help in the starting rotation. They have four arms who have each made at least eight starts on the 15-day injured list at the time of writing this. The likes of Jackie Bradley Jr., Alex Verdugo, and Enrique Hernandez have also provided marginal at best offense. Could we see the Red Sox include another prospect like Bryan Mata in a trade for Jose Quintana? Possibly, depending if they’re desperate enough.

OF Khalil Lee

The New York Mets acquired Khalil Lee in the three-team trade that sent Andrew Benintendi to the Kansas City Royals. Lee was a third-rounder by the Royals back in 2016. Although he was never a consensus top 100 prospect, he consistently shows up among the best prospects in the Mets and Royals’ systems. There’s a lot to like about Lee, but there’s also concern with Lee.

Lee had a monster 2021 when he batted .274/.451/.500 with a .426 wOBA and 162 wRC+. He walked at an insane 18.3% clip while having a .226 isolated slugging percentage. The downside? He had a ground ball rate just above 50% (51.5%) and struck out 29.6% strikeout rate. Somehow, despite that extremely high ground ball rate, he managed a .402 batting average on balls in play.

Those massive red flags has caught up to Lee this season. His ground ball rate sits at an even 50%, and his BAbip has fallen to a much more reasonable .298. But in turn, he’s only hitting .203/.324/.390 with a .323 wOBA and 94 wRC+. He’s still striking out a ton, having a 34.5% K-rate, but what is troubling is that his walk rate has taken a significant downturn to just 11.8%.

Lee has the raw power of a 30-home run hitter and the speed of a guy who could swipe 20 bases. But he’s the kind of player who would greatly benefit from the launch angle revolution (sounds like a third baseman I know). He’s generally considered a plus defender in the corner outfield spots and can easily handle himself in centerfield. He was a pitcher in high school, so he has an arm that can play all three spots.

Maybe the Pittsburgh Pirates could do a high-risk/reward prospect for a high-risk/reward prospect, sending a similar player in Mason Martin. Martin brings more power than Lee but is limited to just first base. Pirates could also take on a contract, or send some money to convince the Mets.