The Pittsburgh Pirates have been connected to a lot of relief pitchers so far this trade season. The latest news comes from Jon Morosi, who says they’ve been scouting the bullpen of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Pirates have been scouting DBacks relievers. Of note: A lefty by the name of Oliver Perez is part of the Arizona bullpen.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 23, 2014
Morosi mentions Oliver Perez, although I’m not sure if that’s because the Pirates might be scouting him, or because he used to be a Pirate. Perez has a 1.96 ERA in 36.2 innings this year, with a 10.1 K/9 and a 3.2 BB/9. His 3.44 xFIP suggests some regression, but that he will be a good reliever going forward.
Jon Heyman wrote recently about how Arizona could be sellers, but won’t have a fire sale. They’ve already traded Brandon McCarthy and Joe Thatcher, but Heyman says that they don’t seem eager to deal veterans like Martin Prado or Brad Ziegler. He also mentions that they might not deal Perez, since he’s signed for next season and is the only lefty remaining in the bullpen.
We don’t know much about who the Pirates are looking at. We just know that they continue to look at relievers.
