MLB insider surprisingly includes formerly untouchable Pirates player in trade rumors

Over the last couple weeks, Oneil Cruz has been one of the coldest players in baseball. Before then, he was making the case for an All-Star appearance, but now he his slump has gotten so bad his effort has declined. All of a sudden, MLB Insiders are no longer confidently excluding Cruz from trade buzz, after previously reporting that he was untouchable. Now, both Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal have stated this week that Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen are the only untouchables in trade talks. As Heyman wrote, "The Pirates are expected to be open-minded on anyone but Skenes and club icon McCutchen."

Even though neither insider has directly stated that the Pirates are listening on Cruz, the big story in May and even early June was that Skenes and Cruz were the only untouchables. That narrative has evidently changed, and it feels like this recent stretch could be the cause.

This stretch has been poor both on offense and defense and, to be honest, it is probably mostly mental. The same thing happened in 2024 when Cruz had that two-error game against the Astros at shortstop, then he went on a stretch of errors in multiple games in a row. That also caused a slump at the plate to occur, too, leading into that long 10-game losing skid, which knocked the team out of the postseason hunt.

While Pittsburgh is not in the playoff hunt now, this Cruz slump is still very significant. On June 11th, Cruz had a 127 wRC+ at the plate, which dipped an entire 30 points to 97 by June 27. His strikeout rate has also climbed to 33% on the season, along with a 34.9% whiff rate. Nonetheless, he still leads the team in home runs (13), stolen bases (26), and walks (42).

The Pirates no longer consider Oneil Cruz an untouchable player at the trade deadline, per MLB Insiders.

A trade feels very unlikely involving Cruz, since he is one of the only positive hitters on this team. Cruz has done a lot for this team, given that the Pirates rank just 29th in runs scored. Without him, this team may have been as bad as the White Sox, or potentially even the Rockies. There's simply nothing around him, which has ultimately held him back from becoming a dark-horse MVP candidate.

Cruz has the upside of being a superstar that would net the Pirates a massive haul back. He has three and a half years of control left, while still being paid less than $1 million this season. Despite these struggles, any team knows the value that Cruz brings, and a package could include an MLB Top 100 prospect and more inside an organization's top 10.

Jeff Passan has already predicted that Cruz will land a contract over $200 million once he hits free agency, and Bob Nutting will never pay that. Maybe that is swaying Cherington to move him following his slump. It is tough to speculate what can happen these days, as crazy deals like the Rafael Devers trade have skewed the market.

It is very surprising to see Cruz off the untouchable list, and now the future of this organization looks very foggy. They already have wasted a valuable year with Paul Skenes, and a trade of a guy like Cruz would likely push possible contention another year or two back.