It should be no surprise that the Pittsburgh Pirates are unsatisfied with their current first base situation. They brought in Travis Ishikawa in a waiver claim earlier this month, despite the fact that he is a left-handed hitting first baseman, just like Pedro Alvarez. And the reason they would be unsatisfied with first base is because Alvarez has been horrible defensively, while also seeing his offense slump.
So the latest news from Jeff Passan, quoting one GM saying that the Pirates are offering Alvarez to everyone, isn’t a shocker.
One other guy whose name is everywhere: Pedro Alvarez. Said one GM: "Pirates want to get rid of him. They're offering him to everybody."
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 23, 2015
Alvarez is making $5.75 M this year, and he doesn’t have much trade value, since he has been replacement level the last two seasons. Dealing him away would basically be a salary dump, with the hope that they could get a marginal prospect, or perhaps more international bonus money or an additional competitive balance draft pick in 2016. Beyond that, a team would have to really believe that Alvarez could bounce back to get anything else. And if that was the case, Alvarez would probably be gone by now.
I think he’d have the most value to an American League team that would use him as a designated hitter. But even then, his value would be pretty low. Dealing him would just be a way to clear space on the roster for an upgrade, while also getting out of the final $2+ M that he is owed for the season.
