3 bold mock trade proposals that would fix the Pittsburgh Pirates’ outfield

The Pittsburgh Pirates need to make a move for some hitters soon. Their pitching has been great, and they have plenty of depth for their rotation. Many of their relievers are even stepping up, including some unlikely names like Kyle Nicolas and Dennis Santana. But while the Pirates’ pitchers have held up their end of the bargain, most of the Pirates’ bats haven’t. This is especially true in the outfield.

The outfield has by far been the roster's biggest disappointment, as well as where most of their struggles have stemmed from. At the time of writing this, Edward Olivares has an OPS below .700, Jack Suwinski has an OPS below .600, and Michael A. Taylor’s OPS is below .500. The Pirates need to shake things up. While there are a few internal options worth believing in, like Ji Hwan Bae and Joshua Palacios, the Pirates should still make a trade.

Luckily for them, the trade market for outfielders has an abundance of options this year. The Pirates could certainly find someone to help solve their outfield woes. These three bold mock trade proposals just might fix the Pirates’ outfield.

3 bold trade proposals that would fix the Pittsburgh Pirates' outfield

The Houston Astros aren’t in the position many expected them to be at the midway point of the 2024 season. Because of that, they might look to move shorter-term players. The Astros aren’t going to completely tear it down, but it’s possible they’ll look to retool while adding depth at positions of need. One player they could move for pitching is outfielder Jake Meyers.

Meyers is in the midst of a breakout year with the bat. He is slashing .251/.317/.423 with a .325 wOBA and 112 wRC+. While his 6.8% walk rate is a career-low, his 24% strikeout rate is a career-best. Last year, he struck out just over a quarter of the time. It’s not as if Meyers is way overplaying his expectations, either. Meyers has a .257 expected batting average, .425 expected slugging percentage, and .327 expected weighted on-base average.

Along with providing good hitting, Meyers has always been a great fielder. This year is no exception, as he has +2 defensive runs saved and +8 outs above average all out of center field. Throughout his career, he has +15 DRS and +29 OAA in 2,071 innings. Almost all of his playing time has been in center field, but he also has some playing time in both left and right field. Another thing that makes Meyers valuable, aside from his Gold Glove caliber defense and well above average hitting, is his contract. Meyers is still controlled for three more seasons via arbitration. 

Pitching is something the Astros have said they’re on the lookout for, and that’s something the Pirates have a lot of. The Pirates have multiple pitching prospects who are at Double-A or higher currently in the farm system. Getting a Gold Glove-caliber CF isn’t going to be cheap, so the headliner of this deal is Braxton Ashcraft.

Ashcraft had a massive breakout 2023 campaign spread across three levels of the minor leagues. He’s only continued to build his workload up while still performing at a high level. Between Double-A and Triple-A, Ashcraft has pitched 69 innings with a 3.00 ERA, 3.05 FIP, and 1.07 WHIP. Ashcraft hasn’t been home run prone, with just an 0.78 HR/9. He also carries a solid 25.8% K%, but the most impressive part of his last two seasons is how well he’s been able to locate. His walk rate last year was 5.2%, but he’s trimmed that down even further to just 4.3%. Since the start of May, he has an ERA below 2.00 with a sub-5% BB%, but a K% above 25%.

One thing that has been important for Ashcraft is his increased ability to carry his velocity deeper into games. There were questions about Ashcraft’s long-term role entering the season, given that he barely pitched from 2020-2022, but he’s put most of those questions to rest. Since the start of May, he’s averaged nearly 5.2 innings a start, tossing 6+ frames on five different occasions.

The second part of this deal is Quinn Priester. Priester, a former first-round pick, has looked better in 2024 compared to his poor 2023 debut. His 4.83 ERA, 5.72 FIP, and 1.55 WHIP aren’t good on paper, but he’s cut his walk rate down from 11.5% last year to just 6.9% in 2024. His 1.99 HR/9 rate isn’t sustainable, either. His ground ball rate is 60% and his fly ball rate is well below 30% at 25.1%. Both SIERA (4.29) and xFIP (4.17) paint Priester as more of a middle/back of the rotation-type arm.

Priester has gained either movement or velo on all of his pitches this year. He’s also pitched extremely well in the minor leagues, with a 3.22 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, a 5.2% walk rate, 26.7% K%, and more realistic 0.53 HR/9. That’s pretty good considering the league average ERA, walk rate, and strikeout rate in the International League is 4.93, 11.2%, and 23.3%, respectively. 

The Pirates would be trading away a decent amount of pitching depth. Both Priester and Ashcraft are on their 40-man roster, with the former already having major league experience, but Meyers could be a +3.5 fWAR player with his current pace. Ashcraft has gotten better and better, and will definitely intrigue many teams. He’s arguably the Pirates’ second best pitching prospect behind Bubba Chandler. Priester is an arm that could slot into the back of any rotation right now.

Pirates convince Astros to sell from top-notch depth yet again

Jake Meyers isn’t the only short-term veteran on the Houston Astros’ roster. Someone who might have a greater chance of getting moved at the deadline is outfielder/infielder Mauricio Dubon. The utility man could solve the Pirates’ issues in the outfield, but also help provide depth on the infield.

Dubon has been about a league-average hitter the last two seasons. In 2024, he is slashing .284/.308/.398. Dubon rarely walks with a 3.1% BB%, but he avoids striking out like the plague with an 8.8% K%. Unfortunately, the tradeoff is he hits for very little power, with an isolated slugging percentage of just .111. Last year was the first year he’s ever reached double-digit home runs, and even then, he only hit 10. Overall, though, a 99 wRC+ is fine, especially given his defense.

Dubon is a sound defensive outfielder with +1 DRS and OAA. He has logged innings at all three outfield positions, but to call him an outfielder would be very disingenuous. Dubon has started at least one game at first, second, and third base, as well as shortstop. He’s displayed average to above-average defense at all four infield positions and rightfully won a Gold Glove last year for utility players.

If the Astros trade Dubon, a very good comparative trade package would be what the Pirates got for Adam Frazier at the 2021 trade deadline. Both are very similar players, being contact-oriented utility men. Overall, Dubon provides about average overall value, as did Frazier. Dubon has one more year of control remaining compared to when the Pirates traded Frazier, but he is also slightly older. 

Because of that, I have the Pirates trading three prospects, all of which are of similar caliber to what they got for Frazier. The first is Mitch Jebb. Jebb’s first extended look in pro ball hasn’t gone as smoothly as anticipated. He’s only batting .223/.325/.316 on the year with a .308 wOBA and 87 wRC+. Jebb is striking out at an uncharacteristic rate of 23.5%. He doesn’t project to hit for much power and has a sub-.100 isolated slugging percentage. On the plus side, his plus speed is playing well, as he’s swiped 20 bases already, and his plate discipline has looked good with a 12.5% BB%.

To Jebb’s credit, he has been hitting much better as of recently, cutting his K% down below 20% with a .797 OPS, .388 wOBA, and 137 wRC+ dating back to the start of June. This is more in line with what many were expecting with Jebb: lots of walks, a good BA, decent K%, and some steals. Jebb is a solid defensive middle infielder, but his speed gives him the chance to be a potential center field option if he has to move there.

The second player in this deal is Garret Forrester. The corner infielder/catcher was the Pirates’ third-round pick last year. Forrester has been injured since mid-May, but he was batting well up until that point with a .262/.421/.381 line, .396 wOBA, and 141 wRC+. Forrester drew walks at an elite 17.8% rate, but didn’t hit for much power in the 107 plate appearance sample size with a .119 isolated slugging percentage, striking out 26.2% of the time.

Although Forrester mostly played first base with the occasional game at the hot corner, he’s been used behind the plate by the Pirates this year. He has a strong enough arm to play both as a catcher and third baseman. There have been some growing pains behind the plate, but it is the first time he’s played the position regularly since at least high school. 

The last part of the package is Ryan Harbin. Harbin is a 22-year-old relief pitching prospect. He sits mid-90s with his sinker and gets his fair share of strikeouts. Plus, he keeps the ball on the ground quite frequently. However, Harbin also has command issues. This year, he has a 14.7% walk rate and, since getting to High-A ball last year, Harbin has a 14.2% BB%. 

Again, if he Astros trade Dubon, the package will probably look something like what the Pirates got for Frazier. This mock trade is a close equivalent of that 2021 package. Dubon would make a major impact on the Pirates’ roster. He could help the outfield, but he’ll also provide depth at pretty much every position other than catcher.