6-29-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter
I fully understand why fans and some journalists are frustrated and want additions made right now. As I’ve written before, that’s up to you. If you want to be mad that the Pirates aren’t making deals right now and choose to not accept any of the reasons or realities of the league, I can’t blame you. I can’t agree either, but I’m not here to strongarm you into believing something you simply won’t.
That said, I also don’t blame President’s for the economy the day after the inauguration, so maybe I’m weird.
Either way, there will be players available, some will come with term, some will be pure rentals, for this exercise, I’m going to only look at teams currently below the Pirates in the standings. I find this more productive than predicting who or who won’t fall back, simply because at some point not all that far from now, the teams will have to stop guessing about where teams might wind up too, and decide what they are this year.
To do this, lets break these guys into 3 categories. Pure Rental, Rental Plus, and finally Acquisition with Term. I’ll explain them as we go and in no way am I trying to develop an all encompassing list, just some players I think could help. I also think I owe you some kind of “price” for each, but honestly, I don’t care to start guessing which prospects would go for who so instead I’ll do it this way, there will be 3 price ratings, $, $$, $$$. These prices are relative to the categories. In other words, a $ in Rental, won’t be the same cost as a $ under Acquisition with Term.
If it doesn’t make sense yet, it will, keep going.
Acquisition with Term
This is pretty simple, the Pirates get a guy and own control of the player beyond 2025 should they want to.
Brenton Doyle – CF – ($) – Brenton is actually very similar to Connor Joe in profile, maybe with a little more power. His splits aren’t bad, he plays a well above average CF and he has two more years on entry level contracts before he even hits free agency. The bugaboo, he’s already 26. That’s not a big deal like he was in AAA at this age, but much like Joe, he’ll be into his early 30’s before Free Agency comes a callin’. Potential solution at a position of need for years to come. Also, a rare right handed hitter who actually hits right handed pitching better than lefty.
Ryan McMahon – 3B – ($$) – Ryan has an affordable contract signed through his age 32 season in 2027. He is a really good 3B, but he can play 1B too. Ryan to me solves first base, or potentially upgrades 3B when Hayes is injured, or affords the team to rest Hayes more to hopefully get better out of him when he does play. He can handle 2B as well so the options are there to ensure the bat stays in the lineup. He’s got power, but the caveat that he plays in Colorado should lower expectations about his power production a bit, and finally, the Rockies are already on record that they don’t want to move him. This is just a good ball player who’s versatility affords your team flexibility in future free agency acquisitions because he isn’t locked into a position.
Luis Robert Jr. – CF – ($$) – This is a great player. Lets make no bones about that, his talent is not in question. His health on the other hand is very much so front and center. Whatever team would deal for him would get 1 more very reasonably signed year and then 2 club options for 20 million per over the last two years of his deal. If the club would choose to cut ties after 2025, it’s a 4 million dollar buyout, and if they were to want out after 2026 it reduces to 2 million. Reasonable for the talent, not for the actual playing time. A healthy Robert in 2023 hit 38 homeruns, problem is he’s in his 5th year and has slightly over 1,600 at bats, for perspective, that’s roughly 600 more than Jack Suwinski who debuted in 2022, Robert debuted in 2020. Injury is concern number one. He won’t hit for average but the OPS will be where you want it. Again, when healthy, great player, and the Sox will want paid as though that’s a given.
Andrew Vaughn – 1B/OF – ($) – Andrew isn’t a perfect solution for first base, but he hits for power and I can’t deny he’d be an upgrade in many respects over there. Andrew comes with 2 more years of arbitration and this year he wound up getting 3.25 million. Even coming off a down year in 2025 he’d surely get an increase. If nothing else, it’d be pretty easy to enter free agency this Winter believing you don’t need to shop for first basemen with power. Might be a worthy shot at a controllable answer, might also just frustrate this fan base as much as he has his own by being good but not good enough.
A.J. Puk – LRP/RP – ($) – The Marlins tried Puk in the rotation, partially by plan, partially by necessity due to injury, and it’s not been a very good season in general for the lefty. Here’s the thing, I don’t 100% see this as a deal that has to help in 2024. I mean, I’d want it to of course, but I’d be acquiring Puk because his last two seasons out of the pen were legitimately good, with excellent strikeout to walk numbers and he has 2 more years of arbitration the first of which almost promises to stay under 3 million. Ryan Borucki will be a free agent after 2024, and Puk can slot right into that role for a couple seasons. The Pirates are poised to lose their only two lefty relievers of consequence after this year, a deal like this could help that, and if you believe in Marin’s work with lefties, maybe this year too. All around talent poach here for me. Buy low, and think beyond 2024 here.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. – CF/2B/SS – ($$) – Here’s the thing, Jazz to me is a player everyone and their mother says is good, and for the life of me I can’t see it. He hasn’t been healthy for most of his career, he does have a ton of power, and somehow it doesn’t translate into a good OPS number. Speed for days, lots of position flexibility, but again, man, I just know they’re going to want a “star” return, and I simply can’t force myself to see him as one. 381 games and he’s been in the league since 2020. 63 homeruns in 1520 at bats isn’t nothing, again, I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but if I’m spending big for a star I have control of for a while, I’d rather feel 100% he is one.
Pure Rental
This year is it, you get the remainder of 2024 and then they’re on the Free Agent market in 2025.
Charlie Blackmon – OF – ($) – Charlie is 38 years old, it’s the end of the road for the longtime Rockies property. He isn’t what he was, but he still swings a left handed stick that is sure to drop a plus .700 OPS, still has a little pop, especially for doubles, but his swing is a good fit for the Clemente Wall too. Instant offensive upgrade in the outfield even if you can’t hope to play him 5-6 days a week, also a good left handed alternative at DH when you’d like to rest Andrew McCutchen.
Elias Diaz – C – ($) – The Pirates have a lot of options at catcher, but it’s hard for me to picture a playoff team featuring any of the 4 they have. If Henry Davis doesn’t catch on and I mean in the next couple weeks, I’d consider it at least and if you’re going to, might as well get one who’s hitting over .300. Offensive and defensive upgrade in one player, even if it means Ben Cherington has to admit he picked the wrong one to keep way back when, not that I disagreed in any way at the time.
Tanner Scott – CP – ($) – This is a classic good player on a bad team. There’s nothing beyond this year on this deal, but he’s another power lefty back end of the bullpen type pitcher who would give the Pirates a big leg up on teams that can’t put a dent in their starters. I do think he’ll cost a bit more than most pure rentals, closers almost always seem to and it’s typically not a price a team that already has a couple options to do the job like to spend, but turning a strength into a fortress is rarely dumb for a team looking to make a move. Some might see this as a luxury acquisition, but again, overdoing it on a position can be the difference that helps you survive an injury or simply gives you more matchup options depending on the competition. Tell me Chapman, Holderman, Bednar and Scott wouldn’t be intimidating as hell when you’re down 2-0 in the 5th against Skenes.
Tommy Pham – OF/DH – ($) – It’s become a yearly tradition, someone seemingly begrudgingly signs Tommy Pham, he hits like one of their best hitters and the team for whatever reason is more than happy to move him at the deadline. Truth be told, there hasn’t been a room he was popular in, but man, the dude can hit and has a penchant for the moment too. An upgrade for the bench if nothing else, potential ready made fill in for injury to an outfielder.
Rental Plus
The player has one more year beyond the conclusion of 2024, these are rather common as they tend to get more in return than pure rentals and most teams in position to shed talent aren’t a year away from changing their fortunes enough to keep a player like this.
Eloy Jimenez– LF/DH – ($) – Eloy has left quite a bit to be desired in 2024 but every other year, he’s delivered as far as OPS goes. Not the best fielder, he’s not an easy fit on a team with a dedicated DH already who’s bat you want in the lineup. Technically, he comes with two more years of contractual control, 2 club options for 16.5 million and 18.5 million respectively, each with a 3 million dollar buyout, but a buyout that doesn’t roll over. In other words, if they exercised the first option, it’s not 6 million, it’s just 3 and the second year goes away, this is a different structure than say, Luis Robert Jr. If you’re just looking for bats and not being picky about the position, he might fill the bill, but his control will cost more than a typical rental.
Michael Kopech – RP – ($) – Michael has a big arm, gets a lot of strikeouts, problem is, he also lead the league in walks last year. He has one more year of arbitration, and the Pirates have done well with turning strikeout stuff that’s a little wild into something worth having, but the Sox have been trying that with Michael for years now and in a pennant race isn’t typically when you want to do things like that. Still, he might be a nice acquisition, he’s got experience in important games. I’d also say, this walk issue wasn’t always what it’s become, so there is potentially an unlock a team could find to make him effective as he was on his entry level deal.
Josh Bell – 1B/DH – ($$) – I love Josh Bell the person, I’m really not a big fan as a player. Very streaky, does have power, goes into deep dark holes offensively and I’ve always hated what that did to the lineup. That said, the Marlins already know dealing him will require picking up most of his 16 million dollars owed and I’d imagine there is play in that idea depending on the strength of prospects they expect to be returned. Paying his contract is essentially buying prospects. Again, trying to take my personal view of the player off the table, I can’t argue he’d probably up their overall offensive attack.
Conclusion
Are there more I could choose from? Oh for sure. Hell, I only really looked at the Marlins, Rockies and White Sox, there are certainly other teams you can look at, even now, but the exercise is really more about finding players I feel could be had as early as this week and that list of teams is just not as long as folks want it to be at the moment.
I’d much rather look at the players, really see if I think they fit as they become available than to toss out pretend packages with shock value names attached from the Pirates prospect pool.
Don’t worry about the packages as much as what do they potentially fix and for how long do they potentially fix it.
And for god’s sake, please don’t immediately compare whatever they do to Chris Archer. If the Pirates had a prospect pool 1/3 as deep as they do now in 2018, they might have survived it. Certainly wouldn’t have just swung and missed with no backup plan. I don’t think personally there is a “sell the farm” player that’s going to come available anyway, none of the guys on this list are that to me anyway. In fact, I’d probably pay more for Ryan McMahon than anyone else on this list, so take from that what you will.
Either way, I think this is a good snapshot of what “right now” looks like.
Steel City Pirates 