Pirates Could Add To Offense By Dealing From Pitching Dept

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The Pirates are scouring the trade market for ways to improve their lineup, and given the lack of pure sellers with available bats, one potential avenue the team has explored is trading from another area of its major league roster to augment the offense. General manager Ben Cherington discu sed such a po sibility on Sunday ( ), and he mentioned just today that the team has an abundance of pitching that could appeal to other clubs ( ). Pittsburgh indeed has a deceptively deep collection of arms, last Wednesday in a piece for . that a back-end starter such as or perhaps a late-inning relievers like or even and could be in play if the Bucs indeed want to use their collection of arms to add a bat. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com that the Pirates have been willing to deal from the bullpen to improve the lineup but also adds that some Brook Lopez Jersey of the teams pitching prospects could come into play. It goes without saying that , and dont factor into this thinking. That excellent trio is the very foundation on which the Pirates staff will be built for the next several years. But the Buccos have plenty of affordable back-of-the-rotation options. The Braves are covering all but $3MM of salary this season. Hes pitched to a 2.70 ERA with a 17.3% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate in 26 1/3 innings and has looked sharp since returning from a two-month IL stint owing to a muscle strain in his forearm. A team looking for an affordable fourth or fifth starter (e.g. Twins, Astros, Guardians) could be intrigued. Falter is currently on the injured list due to tendinitis in his triceps but should be back before long. Hes posted a 4.08 ERA in 17 starts (90 1/3 innings) while fanning 16.7% of his opponents against a 7.7% walk rate. Hes out of minor league options but controlled another four seasons beyond the 2024 campaign. to sed six shutout innings today but did so while i suing five walks and only lowered his ERA to 5.20 in the proce s. Hes earning $8MM, which makes it hard to see him bringing back a bat of note. In terms of le s-established options, the Pirates have names like , and to peddle. Priester has gotten some MLB experience, but the former top prospect has yet to establish himself as a core rotation piece. Burrows and Ashcraft havent yet debuted. The former only just returned from Tommy John surgery performed last April. Hes slowly moving up the minor league ladder on a rehab a signment. The latter has had a breakout season between Double-A and Triple-A. The Pirates surely dont want to deplete their stock of arms too greatly, but in an ideal world, top prospect will claim a rotation spot by 2025. At that point, theres a notable glut of arms with only one rotation spot truly open. Even if Chandler needs more time or gets hurt, Pittsburgh would still have him, Priester, Falter, Ashcraft, Burrows, and (recovering from offseason Tommy John surgery) as long-term rotation options behind Skenes, Jones and Keller. In the bullpen, Chapman is back to his exce sively wild ways. Hes fanned a mammoth 36.6% of his opponents but also i sued walks at a woeful 19.5% clip. To Chapmans credit, hes been better in that regard after a shaky April/May showing. Over the past two months, hes sitting on a 3.43 ERA, 35.6% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate. Thats still too many free pa ses, but its more in line with some past marks from Chapman, who has frequently been able to overcome poor command because of his blistering velocity and knack for mi sing bats. Overall, Chapman sports a 3.93 ERA on the season. Hes being paid $10.5MM, and the Pirates still owe him about $3.72MM as of this writing. Hes a free agent at seasons end. Both Bednar and especially Holderman would come with greater appeal. Bednar has long frequented the pages of MLBTR in past trade deadlines and offseasons. Clubs throughout the league have targeted the Pittsburgh-area native since he established himself with his hometown club, but a deal has never come together. Now, Bednar is struggling through a career-worst season, with a 4.98 ERA in 34 1/3 innings. The shaky ERA seems tied largely to a spike in homer-to-flyball rate; from 2021-23, only 6.6% of Bednars fly balls became homers. This year, hes nearly doubled that, sitting at 12.2%. Bednar is also allowing more fly balls than ever (50%), making the timing of that spike most unwelcome. Still, theres plenty of track record with Bednar, who from 21-23 posted a 2.25 ERA with 61 saves and elite strikeout and walk rates. Hes earning $4.51MM this season and is controllable through the 2026 campaign. The 28-year-old Holderman would be difficult to trade. Hes not yet arbitration-eligible, though he will be this season as a Super Two player. Holderman is controlled four more years, all the way through 2028, and has delivered 36 2/3 innings of 1.72 ERA ball this season, fanning 28.8% of his opponents against a 10.9% walk rate. Moving on from a controllable leverage reliever of that ilk isnt easy, though the Bucs could consider it a nifty piece of busine s to acquire Holderman from the Mets in exchange for (back in 2022) and then trade him for a more impactful bat just two years later. And with so many arms in the system behind Skenes, Keller and Jones, some of those in-house options are going to wind up in the bullpen. Trades of Holderman and Bednar seem like a long shot, particularly since the latter would be selling low on a popular hometown All-Star. That said, the Bucs do have a large stock of arms from which to deal. Moving an established reliever/starter for a bat could open the door for any number of young, promising in-house replacements, while a more conventional swap might simply see them trade some of those prospects for immediate offensive help ideally a bat controlled for multiple years beyond the current season. Ray Allen Jersey