An extremely underrated potential reliever trade target the Pirates should pursue

The Pittsburgh Pirates still need to build up their bullpen depth. They signed Caleb Ferguson last week, but may use him as a starter, at least to open the year. Luckily for them, there are still plenty of options to go after. One that could potentially be available in trade talks is right-hander Calvin Faucher from the Miami Marlins. The Marlins have only continued their teardown this offseason, a process that started early into the 2024 season, by trading slugger Jake Burger to the Texas Rangers. They’re likely not done, and if Faucher is available in trade talks, the Bucs should pursue him.

Faucher is coming off a strong breakout campaign with the Miami Marlins, where he pitched to a 3.19 ERA, 2.50 FIP, and 1.40 WHIP. The right-handed reliever struck out 26.8% of opponents, but had a mediocre 11.1% walk rate. Faucher also did not allow a home run, but he induced a rather pedestrian 89.6 MPH exit velocity and 7.7% barrel percentage. He did put up a quality 46.5% ground ball rate (top 73rd percentile), but he may not continue to be as home run-immune as his HR/9 claims.

However, the most impressive part of Faucher’s season was his 148 Stuff+. This is a stat that measures how ‘nasty’ a pitcher’s offerings are, and is on a similar scale to statistics like OPS+, wRC+, or ERA+, where 100 is always average. That was the best mark in the league among relievers with at least 30 innings pitched, above the likes of Ryan Helsey, Emmanuel Clase, and Mason Miller. Faucher isn’t a flamethrower compared to his contemporaries, as he was in the 80th percentile of fastball velocity, sitting at 96 MPH with his sinker. Miller, Clase, and Helsley each averaged at least 99.5 MPH with the heater. He also tosses a cutter (his primary pitch in 2024), a curveball, and a sweeper.

Marlins reliever Calvin Faucher's absurd stuff makes him a prime Pirates trade target

The biggest hurdle in any trade with the Marlins is going to be convincing them to take a pitcher as a headliner in a trade. This is the biggest thing that blocked the Pirates from getting Jazz Chisholm at the trade deadline in 2024, as the Marlins seemingly wanted a catcher as the biggest piece of a deal for Chisholm at the time. Like the Pirates, the Marlins have a ton of young pitching. 11 of their top 30 prospects on MLB Pipeline are pitchers. They still have young arms like Ryan Weathers, Edward Cabrera, and both Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez returning to action in 2025. Perhaps they'll be more amenable to adding a pitcher after dealing Jesús Luzardo, if only slightly.

However, if the Pirates can get over that, then they should absolutely make a trade for Faucher. His overpowering stuff could make him a top-of-the-line sort of bullpen arm. On top of that, he’s still an entire year away from arbitration. Faucher has the stuff to be a closing pitcher if the need arises. If the Marlins are willing to field offers for the breakout star, the Pirates could have a great opportunity to add a very high-ceiling reliever.