3 rumored trade targets the Pittsburgh Pirates need to avoid

It's been a wild offseason already, with the Pittsburgh Pirates being linked to almost every single prominent hitter available on both the free agent and trade markets. The hunt for bats has already begun, with the Pirates acquiring Jhostynxon "The Password" Garcia in a five-player trade with the Red Sox.

While the Pirates clearly have plenty of moves to make to address their many offensive holes, the team still needs to be intentional with its approach. They can't afford to bring guys in just based on name recognition without considering how they would fit within the team's plans. There are some players available who might represent an upgrade offensively over the current alternative, but, in the grand scheme of things, would not move the needle enough towards helping the Pirates compete in 2026.

The Pirates should avoid these trade targets at all costs.

Nolan Arenado

Arenado will likely end his career as one of the best third basemen in MLB history—he's seven home runs away from cracking the top-10 on the all-time home run list among primary third basemen, and his 10 Gold Gloves are tied for second in league history at the hot corner. But he's a shell of who he once was.

Arenado, who turns 35 in April, was a below average hitter in 2025 (.666 OPS, 84 wRC+) for just the third time in his 13-year career, with the other two instances being his rookie campaign and the COVID-shortened 2020 season. His numbers have seen a steep decline since he was a 7-WAR player and an NL MVP finalist in 2022. He just doesn't hit the ball very hard anymore, and PNC Park is where right-handed pull-heavy swings like his go to die.

His contract is also a non-starter, and part of the reason why the division-rival Cardinals are desperate to get rid of him. He's still owed $42 million through 2027, with $27 million of that due in the upcoming season. MLB Network analyst and former Mets GM Steve Phillips suggested the Pirates as a potential landing spot for Arenado, but it's just not a good fit. At all.

Alec Bohm

Another third baseman (which is a shame, since the Pirates really need one of those), Bohm's name has surfaced in trade speculation as the Phillies try to figure out whether or not they need to reconfigure their offense going into 2026. But like Arenado, his name value is likely greater than his actual value.

Bohm has appeared in at least 115 games in each of the last five seasons, but is averaging just 0.9 bWAR per season in that span. He has a fine offensive floor (.275/.323/.411 in those five seasons), but, like Arenado, PNC Park would sap what power he does have—he's homered 70 times in six seasons, but only 49 of those would have left the confines of PNC. He's also been a consistently bad defender, playing third base at a rate of minus-12 defensive runs saved over a full season.

In terms of overall value, it's far from a certainty that Bohm would represent an upgrade over Ke'Bryan Hayes, who had four and a half years left on his deal when the Pirates dumped him to a division rival to free up payroll. Bohm also comes with just one season of club control, at an estimated $10.3 million. If the Pirates are open to one-year veteran bats, somebody like Brandon Lowe would be a much better fit.

Nick Castellanos

Castellanos is another hitter potentially on his way out of Philadelphia, but it feels like the writing has been on the wall for some time now, given his declining play and tumultuous relationship with manager Rob Thomson (who was extended on Tuesday, amid the Kyle Schwarber furor).

He was sub-replacement level according to both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs in 2025 despite playing in 147 games. He turns 34 in March, and the offensive skills are in clear decline—his batting average and slugging percentage have both dropped three years in a row, and that's coupled with a below-average walk rate and unplayable defense. Castellanos was in the negatives according to Statcast's run value at the plate, on the bases, and in the field, and he was in the first percentile in outs above average across the entire league.

Like Bohm, Castellanos only has one year of contractual control remaining. He is entering the final season of the five-year, $100 million deal he signed with the Phillies in 2022 and will earn $20 million in 2026. It just doesn't make sense for the Pirates to invest that kind of money into an aging player who's quickly trending the wrong way offensively and defensively.