Pirates can take advantage of Phillies' stunning Jose Alvarado suspension

The Philadelphia Phillies just lost Jose Alvarado for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. The Phillies already had a shaky bullpen to begin with, and now one of their go-to high leverage arms is no longer available - when Alvarado returns, he will be ineligible for postseason play. This suspension opens up a perfect trade opportunity for the Pirates, as they are looking like sellers at this year's trade deadline.

Overall, the Pirates bullpen is somewhat inconsistent, but there are a few arms that have a lot of value and are likely to be dealt at the deadline. The Pirates' goal at the trade deadline, if they don't climb back into the race, should be towards building up their MLB-ready depth with young talent. Their squad needs to improve a lot offensively, and this could be a way for the Pirates to seek that improvement.

Pirates should look into trading a bullpen arm to the Phillies now that they are down Jose Alvarado.

The Pirates should be targeting the top-end hitters in the Phillies farm system in either Aidan Miller or Justin Crawford. Although it would be tough to pry away a top-three prospect in the organization, Philadelphia will need a reliable (and controllable) high-leverage arm, and Dave Dombrowski may be willing to trade away one of them to land one. Another Phillies prospect to target would be Gabriel Rincones Jr. their 10th-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. The Pirates could probably get Rincones plus another prospect in exchange for their top arms.

To land one of these bigger-named prospects, the Pirates should consider trading away two-time All-Star David Bednar. After the 2026 season, Bednar will be a free agent, and his value is slowly rising back up ever since being recalled from Triple-A. Since then, Bednar has generated a 2.31 ERA with a 39.1% strikeout rate and just a 2.2% walk rate. His control is back and he is generating tons of swings and misses. If he finishes May and has a strong June, his value will be right back up for the Pirates to trade.

The Pirates need offense more than ever, and there will be plenty of opportunities to upgrade that group this trade deadline. This failure of a start may open the door for some solid pickups, but Ben Cherington must not mess these trades up like we have seen in the past.