3 teams emerging as potential early-season trade partners for the Pittsburgh Pirates

The month of April hasn’t come to a close yet, but we are already seeing what teams could be potential trade partners for the Pittsburgh Pirates later in the summer. Heading into this season, many questioned the lineup’s abilities, and that has been the sorest spot for the Pirates so far.

However, with plenty of pitching depth, both in the minor leagues and on the Major League roster, the Pirates could acquire a young MLB-ready bat or a more proven commodity from a team in need of pitching. Unless something drastically changes, it's clear what the Bucs already need.

3 teams emerging as potential early-season trade partners for the Pirates

Athletics

The Sacramento/Las Vegas Athletics are not doing as poorly as many may have expected. At the time of writing this, they are 10-13. They are winning games with their promising offensive core. They currently have JJ Bleday, Brent Rooker, Shea Langliers, and Lawrence Butler, with Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson putting up strong numbers in their first extended look in the Major Leagues. On top of that, they just promoted Nick Kurtz, the fourth overall pick in the 2024 draft, who is a consensus top-40 prospect in baseball.

But they lag behind in young pitching. Right now, they have four starters who have made at least three starts. None are younger than 29, and only one, in former Pirate Osvaldo Bido, has both an ERA and FIP below 4.00. As a unit, their starters rank bottom five in ERA, FIP, and WHIP. ERA estimators also aren't kind to their performance, as they rank bottom five in both xFIP and SIERA.

They do have three pitching prospects on their top-10 list, though, with two at Triple-A. One is Jack Perkins, who is on the IL, and the other is Mason Barnett. Outside of that, position players dominate the top of their prospect lists. Seven of their top 10 prospects on MLB Pipeline are position players (including Kurtz), in addition to some decent power-hitting outfield prospects, like Denzel Clark and Colby Thomas.

The Athletics will likely need to make a trade to get some young pitching. Although they made a surprise splash last offseason with Luis Severino, they won’t find a young arm on the free agent market next season. Only one starter from the 2025-2026 free agent class will still be younger than 30. With so many young position players, both in the minor league system and already in the big leagues, A’s are looking like a reasonable trade partner for Pittsburgh.

Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles and Pirates have lined up on paper since the start of last offseason. The O’s offense was never in question. They currently have six players with a league-average or better OPS+ in 50+ plate appearances ... with more reinforcements at Triple-A. Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo are doing well at Norfolk and are two of the best prospects in the league. Enrique Bradfield is batting nearly .400 with a 1.032 OPS to kick off his season at Double-A, so he could soon find himself getting a promotion soon.

But their starting pitching has been abysmal for the most part. Former Pirates starter Charlie Morton has allowed 25 earned runs in 20 1/3 innings. Both Dean Kremmer and Cade Povich have ERAs over 6.00 and FIPs over 5.00. Offseason addition Tomoyuki Sugano has a solid ERA, but an FIP approaching 6.00. Zach Eflin is their only starter who hasn’t been outright worrisome, but even he's on the injured list.

Eflin isn’t their only pitcher on the IL. Young right-hander Grayson Rodriguez is also hurt, and he is joined by Kyle Bradish, Albert Suarez, and Tyler Wells. Chayce McDermott, one of their few top pitching prospects, is also on the Major League IL. So, not only are the Orioles not getting good production from their current rotation, they also lack depth. Overall, their starters have the worst ERA, FIP, WHIP, strikeout rate, and HR/9 and rank in the bottom three in both xFIP and SIERA.

The Orioles likely aren’t going to part ways with their top two prospects, that being Basallo and Mayo, for anything less than an absolute haul. However, they still have some other notable prospects, such as Dylan Beavers or Creed Willems. The O’s were also reportedly willing to listen to offers for first baseman Ryan Mountcastle earlier this month, who would be a good fit for the Pirates. 

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks are in the midst of what is currently an incredibly tight NL West division race. They have five batters with an OPS+ greater than 120 in 50 or more plate appearances, and two have an OPS above 1.000, including 2023 Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll and DH Pavin Smith, who is surprisingly leading the league in both batting average and OPS+. They’ve done this all without a healthy Ketel Marte.

But their starting pitching has been a sore spot to open the season. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are not off to great starts. Their big offseason addition, Corbin Burnes, isn't doing great. Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt are the only starters performing well out of the gates. Overall, the D-backs rank in the bottom half of the league in ERA, FIP, and WHIP.

Arizona does not have any immediate pitching help in the minor leagues either. Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline put just one pitcher in their top 10 prospects: Yilber Diaz. Right-hander Cristian Mena made his MLB debut last season, but is still just 22 years old. Yu-Min Lin is another pitching prospect, but is only at Double-A. These are their only three pitching prospects in the top 15 on MLB Pipeline.

The D-Backs also make sense because of the contract status of some of their pitchers. Gallen and Kelly are both free agents after this season, and with so little pitching in their system right now the D-Backs stand to make a trade with the Pirates, a team that has more pitching than they know what to do with. Considering nine of Arizona's top 10 prospects, according to Pipeline, are position players, the two teams could definitely figure out a move.