Pittsburgh Pirates: Looking at Four Baseball Trade Values Trades

The fourth and final trade is my trade that I posted on Baseball Trade Values. In my mock trade, the Pirates send Quintana to the Seattle Mariners for one prospect. The prospect going back to the Bucs in this trade is left-handed pitching prospect Adam Macko.

The Mariners just ended an impressive 14-game winning streak, which puts them in a Wild Card spot. They’re still 11 games out of first place for the American League West, but they’re definitely in a prime spot to end their 21 straight seasons without a playoff berth. Although the M’s have gotten quality seasons out of a handful of their starting pitchers, they recently optioned youngster George Kirby and prospect Matt Brash struggled in his small sample size earlier this year.

Macko, the headliner in this deal, is a top prospect in the Mariners’ system. In 38.1 innings with the M’s High-A affiliate, Macko has a 3.99 ERA but quality 3.55 FIP and 2.97 xFIP. That’s because Macko has an extremely impressive 35.9% K-rate and has allowed just four home runs while having a 48.1% ground ball rate. However, despite that high ground ball rate, opponents have a .367 batting average on balls in play against him. That should normalize and help lower his ERA.

Macko already averages out in the low-to-mid-90s with his fastball at just 21 years old. His slider is a plus offering as well, but his curveball has plus-plus potential. He averages 2800 RPM with his curve, which gives it a ton of depth. Macko’s command is on the iffy side, though. Currently, he has a 12% walk rate and projects to have 45-grade command.

The Pirates are also sending over some cash in this trade. They did a similar thing during last year’s trade deadline when they included cash in the Adam Frazier trade. This convinced the San Diego Padres to surrender Tucupita Marcano and Jack Suwinski in that deal. According to Baseball Trade Values, this would be enough to make the deal.