3 trade targets that would put the Pittsburgh Pirates over the top

First Base: Gavin Sheets

First base has been an issue for the Pirates for about two decades now. Connor Joe has been decent, but is best used in a platoon/part-time role. Rowdy Tellez has not worked out as the second half of that platoon whatsoever. This year’s trade market doesn’t have very many great first basemen worth going after ... but there are a few. One of them could be Chicago White Sox’ outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets.

Sheets has a solid .241/.351/.414 triple-slash in 192 plate appearances on the season. Sheets has drawn a ton of walks with a 13.5% rate, but more impressively, he’s cut his strikeout rate down from 20.6% in his first three MLB seasons to 16.7% this year. Sheets is also hitting for above-average pop with a .173 isolated slugging percentage.

Sheets is exactly the sort of player that would complement Joe very well at first base. He’s a left-handed hitter who bats against right-handed pitching very well. This year, he has a strong .257/.373/.436 triple-slash and 135 wRC+ against RHP. He’s walked as often as he’s struck out with two dozen of each, and he could be even better.

Sheets has a .359 xwOBA this year, putting him in the 81st percentile. He also has a .272 expected batting average. His xBA, xOBP, and xSLG% against right-handed pitchers are also much higher than his bottom-line stats against opposite-handed hurlers.

It obviously wouldn’t be an exact one-for-one, but if you took Joe’s numbers vs LHP and combined them with Sheets’ numbers vs RHP this season, you get a .270/.370/.465 batter with an OPS amounting to .835. That’s All-Star caliber production. 

Sheets might also benefit from better lineup protection. While the Pirates’ usual nine aren’t filled with Silver Sluggers, they at least have five batters with at least 150 plate appearances and an above-average OPS+. The White Sox only have one such batter, and that’s Gavin Sheets.

If you put Gavin Sheets and Connor Joe in a platoon at first base, the Pittsburgh Pirates will get the best production at the position they’ve had in years, even back to before Josh Bell's arrival. Sheets is exactly what the Pirates need: someone who can truly hit against RHP very well and someone who will be around for more than one season. Sheets doesn’t become a free agent until after the 2027 campaign. He has three more years of arbitration left.