Oneil Cruz is living proof Pirates can't afford to overvalue top prospects

There are some who believe that trading Oneil Cruz will be crucial to the Pittsburgh Pirates achieving their trade deadline objectives. The idea is that swapping the powerful-but-flawed outfielder in exchange for another piece that fills a greater need, like bullpen help, would help Pittsburgh upgrade without increasing payroll.

Put aside for a second that many on the Pirates' beat have refuted this report about not increasing payroll, there's another lesson that Pittsburgh can take away from Cruz, and this time it's about being aggressive.

Many forget that Cruz originally started out as a Los Angeles Dodgers farmhand, traded to the Pirates at the 2017 deadline in exchange for lefty reliever Tony Watson. At the time, the six-foot-seven slugger was just 18 years old, but already ranked as the Dodgers' No. 23 prospect and presented tantalizing tools, albeit with a very low floor.

Watson was a rental for Los Angeles, but he was a good one, posting a 2.70 ERA down the stretch and helping the Dodgers to a run to the World Series, where they ultimately fell in seven games to the Houston Astros.

Nowadays, Cruz is being highlighted by J.J. Cooper as part of Baseball America's All-Time Trade Deadline Prospects Team, as one of the prospects traded at the deadline over the last decade to find the most success.

Oneil Cruz is proof that the Pirates shouldn't shy away from trading away prospects at the trade deadline

There might be some consternation surrounding trading away too much from the farm system at the deadline. Pittsburgh, for all the surprising new investment in the club, is still a small-market team, and small-market teams need a minor league pipeline to feed talent to the big league club.

That's true, but as Cruz shows us, there's no guarantee that even the most exciting talents will turn into tomorrow's superstars. That's no knock on Cruz, either. The 27-year-old was having the best season of his career before suffering a fractured hand in June.

With that said, he's still a negative defensively, and with a 34.6% strikeout rate, he has some real offensive vulnerabilities. He's a good player, yes, but not the kind of game-changer who would be considered untouchable, hence the trade rumors.

Now, the Pirates' system has taken a hit as the season has gone on. Baseball America had the club with the top farm in the league in its preseason rankings, but now Pittsburgh has fallen to No. 12 on the July update.

The primary reason for that, though, is graduations. Konnor Griffin and Bubba Chandler were propping the pipeline up, but the Pirates still have two consensus top-100 prospects in Seth Hernandez and Edward Florentino. Moreover, there are a lot of other intriguing talents here, as Baseball America notes in its summary of the Pirates farm's strengths.

"Power. OK, it’s a bit of a cheat, but between Seth Hernandez’s heater, and Reinold Navarro and Antwone Kelly’s fastballs, outfielder Edward Florentino’s power potential, Wyatt Sanford’s elevate and celebrate swing and Esmerlyn Valdez’s present power in Pittsburgh, the top of the Pirates ‘system is filled with prospects with top-tier power potential," the BA staff wrote.

That breakdown doesn't even include some other recent developments, most notably Murf Gray's sizzling performance. The point is that the Pirates have a system littered with youngsters who possess the traits that opposing teams crave.

With that, it's important to remember that not all that glitters is gold. While some of these pieces might look like they could be mammoth stars if everything comes together, the chances of that actually happening are slim. Clubs will always take gambles on power bats and high-octane arms, but rarely do things pan out.

It's understandable if Ben Cherington wants to take Hernandez and Florentino off the table, but everyone else should be fair game in a deal if it makes sense. After all, this is what contending teams do.

You have to give something to get something, and if the Pirates want to be true contenders, they're going to have to offload some toolsy prospects to get the pieces they need to plug big league holes. It might hurt at the time, but it's the cost of doing business, and more than likely, it won't come back to bite them.

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