Pirates avoided disaster by shutting down ridiculous rumored trade talks with Mets

If you needed a reminder that other teams still look at the Pirates like a convenient pitching aisle, the Mets just provided it.

According to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, New York “extensively” discussed Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft with Pittsburgh in trade talks this offseason. In the abstract, talking about arms makes sense — the Pirates have a real pipeline, and teams always come sniffing when you’ve got premium velocity and years of control.

But the rumored return ideas? That’s where this thing gets ridiculous, fast.

​​Pirates dodged a dangerous Mets trade trap that would’ve wrecked their plan

The Pirates were presumably looking for controllable position-player talent, with names like Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio, and prospect Carson Benge floating as the types of players who could’ve been listed in talks. In theory, that tracks.

In reality? That’s a great way for Pittsburgh to trade away the very thing that gives them a path to October — cost-controlled pitching — for a grab bag of “maybe” bats who come with their own loud questions.

The Pirates don’t have the luxury of treating pitchers like spare parts. They’ve already moved arms around to reshuffle the roster (including dealing Oviedo and Mike Burrows), while trying to patch the lineup with additions like Ryan O’Hearn and the Brandon Lowe trade. 

But once you start trading six years of power arms for infielders with question marks, you’re back to playing the old Pirates game: hoping everything breaks perfectly while you’re one injury away from a bullpen parade.

The injury reality is already staring them in the face. Jared Jones had UCL surgery and even with encouraging progress, his Opening Day readiness in doubt.  Meanwhile, the Pirates’ current rotation picture has Paul Skenes, Chandler, and Mitch Keller as “locks,” with Ashcraft eyeing a spot. 

Ashcraft is coming off a season where struck out 24.3 percent of hitters and posted a 2.71 ERA in 69 2/3 innings as a rookie. Those are the exact players small- and mid-market teams can’t afford to casually flip unless the return is a clean, undeniable difference-maker.

Baty, Vientos, Mauricio are all talented. But also the kind of “change-of-scenery” cluster that contenders offload when they’re trying to consolidate. Even Benge, if you want to dream big, is still a prospect — and prospects are awesome right up until you remember you just traded MLB-ready pitching for a future timeline that may not match Skenes’ window.

If the Mets want to talk? Go ahead and listen. But the Pirates were absolutely right to shut down anything that smelled like “our controllable arm for your expendable question mark.” Pittsburgh has a rare chance to build something real here, and the fastest way to ruin it is trading away the one advantage they know travels well.