According to Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles are in the middle of trade talks that involve outfielder Travis Snider. It’s a trade the two teams looked into last year. According to Connolly’s sources, the deal isn’t done, but could involve two minor league players that aren’t on the 40-man roster. Check back for any updates.
acdg to source Os are closing in on the framework of deal to get Snider from the Pirates. Os encouraged it happens for a minor leaguer or 2
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) January 27, 2015
UPDATE 5:53 PM: Connolly updated his own tweet and said that the deal could be done within the next day.
Updating my own tweet: A Travis Snider deal w Pitts could get done within the next day — still being worked on. http://t.co/3ABFmXs5wH
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) January 27, 2015
UPDATE 5:57 PM: Connolly says that it should be one or two minor leaguers, and that they’re not thought to be 40-man guys or top prospects.
Hearing #Orioles would send one or 2 minor leaguers to Pitts for Snider. Could be only one. Not thought to be 40-man guy or top prospects
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) January 27, 2015
UPDATE 6:00 PM: Thoughts from Tim Williams…
This is the second time that we’ve heard the Snider-to-Baltimore rumors. The first time came during the Winter Meetings, when the Pirates were rumored to be going after Brian Matusz. That same day they traded for Antonio Bastardo, filling their second lefty role in the bullpen, and the Snider talks died down.
The potential return, as described by Connolly, doesn’t sound appealing. Snider is coming off a huge second half, where he posted a .289/.353/.510 line in 224 plate appearances, with ten homers. He ranked third in wOBA and wRC+ for the Pirates in the second half of the season.
It’s no guarantee that Snider will repeat that success in 2015. But he’s relatively cheap (making $2.1 M in 2015), has one more year of control beyond the 2015 season, and is a great backup plan for the Pirates, adding to what is looking like a very strong bench.
Gregory Polanco is the starter in right field, putting Snider on the bench. However, Snider is around if Polanco continues to struggle adjusting to the majors. He is also an injury replacement for either Starling Marte or Andrew McCutchen. Marte is the bigger injury risk of the two, as he is constantly getting hit by pitches. If Snider’s second half was legit, then he’s a great backup if any of these scenarios play out.
Connolly says that the trade would likely come from Baltimore’s “solid minor league pitching core.” That’s where this doesn’t make sense. The Pirates also have a solid core of pitchers, especially in the upper levels. They currently project to have six potential starters in Indianapolis, once Jameson Taillon returns, which means that someone like Casey Sadler or Brandon Cumpton would get moved to the bullpen.
The Pirates need Snider’s depth in the majors more than they need an extra pitching prospect in the minors. The only way this would make sense is if they either received a better return than Connolly is describing, or if they believed that they could easily replace Snider in the majors, while getting an extra pitching prospect for him.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out, since right now there are a lot of possibilities.
UPDATE 6:25 PM: Connolly says that left-handed pitcher Steven Brault is a possibility if Snider gets traded.
One name in #Orioles #Pirates poss trade inv Travis Snider is 22yo LHP Steven Brault, an 11th rounder in 2013. Was at Delmarva/Fred in 2014
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) January 27, 2015
Sense is if Orioles end up acquiring Snider and give up a 2nd prospect it would be a hitter. Class A LHP Steven Brault is one option to go
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) January 27, 2015
Brault wasn’t in Baseball America’s top ten, and ranked as the 16th best prospect in John Sickel’s rankings. He received a C+ rating, borderline C, and was described as a potential back-end starter. He had good numbers in A-ball last year, and should make the jump to Double-A this year.
That, alone, doesn’t seem like it’s worth dealing Snider. The second player would have to be good to make such a deal worthwhile. And it appears that the Orioles are trying to get this done without giving up two players.
#orioles are trying to do "less" than 2 minor leaguers in exchange for Snider, according to a source.
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) January 27, 2015
UPDATE: 7:40 PM: Rob Biertempfel mentions two more names that he has heard as possibilities, both pitchers. The first is 21-year-old left-hander Stephen Tarpley, who had a 3.68 ERA in 66 innings this year with Aberdeen in the NYPL. He was a 3rd round draft pick of the Orioles in 2013. Tarpley was ranked as the 12th best prospect in the Orioles system by John Sickels.
The second name is an interesting one, Jon Keller, who is the older brother of Mitch Keller. The elder Keller is a 6’5″ righty, who had a 1.59 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 56.2 innings for Delmarva this year. The 22-year-old had an 0.94 WHIP in Low-A and made two late season appearances in High-A ball. The younger Keller was the second round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2014 and signed for a $1,000,000 bonus.
UPDATE 8:22 PM: Multiple Sources are reporting that the deal is done and one of the players returning to the Pirates is pitcher Stephen Tarpley. We posted information on Tarpley at the bottom of this article. His MiLB page can be found here.
Source: Travis Snider deal to Baltimore believed to be done. Class A pitcher Stephen Tarpley one of the prospects going to the Pirates.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 28, 2015
UPDATE 8:38 PM: The deal is done. Travis Snider to the Orioles for pitcher Stephen Tarpley and a player to be named later. Something we didn’t mention before with Tarpley is his impressive 1.95 GO/AO ratio. He also improved as the season went along, posting a 2.56 ERA in five August starts, after putting up a 7.36 ERA in his first five games.
Orioles give up LHP Stephen Tarpley and a PTBNL for Travis Snider.
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) January 28, 2015
UPDATE 8:56 PM: There is a good write-up of Tarpley here on Fangraphs, including the fact that he has hit 97 MPH with his fastball and “a low 80’s curve that flashes plus.”
