Pirates insider pitches teams for Pittsburgh to conduct trade talks with this offseason

As per usual, the Pittsburgh Pirates are not expected to be big players in free agency this offseason. This means that if they are serious about getting better faster, they will need to hit the trade market. Hard.

The Pirates are loaded with young arms and and can afford to deal from their pitching depth in some potential offseason trades. Of course, not every MLB team will be in the market for pitching, so Pittsburgh's most likely trade partners are the teams that are.

Based on this logic, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette identified four potential trade partners who could be interested in the Pirates' surplus of arms this offseason: the Baltimore Orioles, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pirates insider pitches teams for Pittsburgh to conduct trade talks with this offseason

With the Orioles likely to lose staff ace Corbin Burnes in free agency, Hiles predicts that they will be looking to add pitching this offseason. The Orioles could be interested in acquiring a back-of-the-rotation pitcher like Luis Ortiz or Bailey Falter, or potentially another minor league arm from Pittsburgh like they did with Patrick Reilly at the trade deadline thus year. In return, Baltimore could offer a veteran like Ryan O'Hearn or Ryan Mountcastle to help fill the Pirates' hole at first base.

Tampa Bay's trade for Shane Baz and Tyler Glasnow in 2018 worked out well, so Hiles speculates that the Rays could be interested in trading for another young Pirates pitcher this offseason. The Pirates were reportedly interested in Rays DH Yandy Diaz at the trade deadline, so it's possible those talks could resume this offseason. Tampa Bay also has a pair of left-handed relievers in Colin Poche and Garrett Cleavinger who could be of interest to Pittsburgh.

The Rangers, Hiles says, may be looking to surround their pair of recent first-round picks in Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker with some additional pitching support. In return for a young Pirates arm, Texas could offer outfielder Adolis Garcia or first baseman Nathaniel Lowe; both provide the pop that the Pirates need on offense and come with multiple years of control.

Finally, the Blue Jays are in teardown mode. Fire sale – everything goes! While young stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are likely out of the Pirates' price range, they could realistically make a trade for Gold Glove-winning outfielder Daulton Varsho, who has two remaining years of arbitration eligibility.

The Pirates have plenty of options on the trade market this offseason; now, we cross our fingers and hope that general manager Ben Cherington exhausts every one of them.

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