Pittsburgh Pirates: Looking at Four Baseball Trade Values Trades

This trade proposal was posted by user jtkuch. In this trade, the Pittsburgh Pirates would send left-handed starting pitcher Jose Quintana and right-handed relief pitcher Chris Stratton to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for pitching prospect Brandon Walter. So what’s all getting moved in this deal?

With the Red Sox needing some starting pitching depth, José Quintana would fit their current situation well. In 97.1 innings of work, Quintana has a 3.70 ERA and 1.28 WHIP but a strong 3.26 FIP and 3.76 xFIP. Quintana has a subpar strikeout rate of just 20.7% but a fantastic 7.1% walk rate and .7 HR/9 rate. His 86.9 MPH exit velo and 37.5% hard-hit rate are also well above average.

Chris Stratton is having a rough season. He has a 5.17 ERA and 1.54 WHIP. However, things could be a lot better. Stratton has a .353 batting average on balls in play, compared to just .296 in 2020 and 2021. Stratton does have a 3.79 FIP, 4.14 xFIP, and 3.92 SIERA. Those numbers aren’t far off from his 2020-2021 FIP, xFIP, and SIERA of 3.61, 3.93, and 3.76, respectively. Stratton isn’t doing anything different to 2020-2021 but has just run into bad batted ball luck. Stratton also comes with another year of control after 2022.

Brandon Walter would be going back to Pittsburgh in this deal. The southpaw has steadily climbed up the Red Sox minor league system and has reached Triple-A this year, but he has spent most of 2022 at Double-A. Walter dominated Double-A batters, producing a 2.88 ERA, 2.76 FIP, and 0.78 WHIP. Walter struck out 34.7% of batters faced, which is quite impressive. However, he had an incredible 1.5% walk rate and .54 BB/9. On average, he walked just over a half batter every nine innings. His BB:K ratio was 22.7, and his ground ball rate was 52.1%. So far, he’s pitched 7.2 innings at Triple-A, allowing seven earned runs, but has been hurt by a .360 BAbip in the petite sample size.

Walter has three plus offerings, including a low-to-mid-90s four-seamer, a frisbee low-80s slider, and a tumbling change-up. His low arm-slot only helps his stuff play-up. The only downside is that Walter is a late-blooming prospect. He is in his age-25 campaign and will be 26 before the end of the season. However, despite his age, you can’t deny the insane walk rate, extremely good strikeout rate, and overall just dominant numbers.

If you were to ask me, I think the Pittsburgh Pirates would take this trade in a heartbeat, no questions asked. The Pirates are getting a near-MLB-ready lefty starting pitcher, who has flat out decimated Double-A batters, for a rental major league starting pitcher and veteran relief pitcher. However, the Red Sox would likely be hesitant for the same reasons. Though I think the Pirates should put an asking price above what Quintana is worth, and the Pirates could slot Walter behind Mike Burrows in Indianapolis’ rotation.