A way-too-early Pittsburgh Pirates trade target wishlist for 2024-25 offseason

The Pittsburgh Pirates need to be active this offseason. They have a roster with a good foundation and potential, but they need to start reinforcing the right areas and filling holes. They could do this via adding free agents, but they should also consider the trade market, as it will present plenty of opportunities to add talent and improve the roster. 

They definitely have a good enough farm system to make impact moves as well. They have a boatload of young pitchers they should start dealing from. Although they began to make moves in this vein (trading Patrick Reilly, Quinn Preister, and Jun-Seok Shim at the trade deadline, all for players who are now on their active Major League roster), they shouldn’t stop there. 

Last week, we took a way-too-early look at some free agents the Pirates should go after. Now, we’re going to examine some potential trade targets that would be ideal for the Bucs.

3 Pirates offseason trade targets

Taylor Ward

There were plenty of rumors this past trade deadline surrounding Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward. One of the teams that reportedly had interest was the Pirates. He has silently strung together a handful of quality campaigns, and will likely be subject to plenty of rumors once again this offseason. The Pirates should get back in on the action, especially if they commit to Bryan Reynolds at first base.

Ward is finishing off his yet another solid year and is currently batting .256/.323/.439 with a .330 wOBA and 113 wRC+ in 622 plate appearances. Ward has hit a career-high 25 home runs with a strong .191 isolated slugging percentage. His 25.4% strikeout rate is a career-worst mark. However, he is still walking at a respectable 9.5% pace. 

There is plenty more under the hood that suggests Ward could be better than this. He is above the 80th percentile of both xwOBA (.353) and xSLG% (.479). Ward is hitting the ball better than ever before, with a 91.2 MPH exit velocity (82nd percentile) and 13.7% barrel rate (89th percentile). His 25.3% swing and miss rate is slightly below average, but he has only swung outside the zone 21.1% of the time.

Ward has spent his entire season in left field this year and has +1 defensive runs saved and +2 outs above average. His arm plays well in an outfield corner, as he is in the 69th percentile of arm strength and is in the 78th percentile of arm value. Ward covers 1.7 feet in his jumps, giving him one of the best reaction times among outfielders.

The Angles have a good amount of young pitching talent in their system. 14 of their top 30 prospects on MLB Pipeline are arms. Still, a good amount of that pitching talent is extremely young. Six of their 14 top pitching prospects check in at age 20 or younger. Along with not having many MLB-ready arms, they have very few young arms that have already reached the bigs. Only two of the five pitchers who have made double-digit starts for the Angels this year are 25 or younger, and one is Reid Detmers, who has an ERA over 6.00.

Ward comes with multiple years of control, and won't become a free agent until after the 2026 season. The Pirates should be all over Ward. He's exactly what they need: a good and steady hitter who provides value with the glove and who isn’t strictly a one-year rental. This would be the perfect Reynolds replacement if they commit to their incumbent star at first base.