According to Jon Heyman on CBS Sports, Pedro Alvarez has told people he believes this is the right time for a trade. Heyman points to Camden Yards and the Baltimore Orioles as a possible destination. The park is kind to left-handed hitters and Alvarez obviously has more value as a DH than anywhere on defense. The problem is that his defense limits the trade options for the Pirates and Alvarez is a low on base player, with no speed and a poor track record against left-handed pitchers, posting a .601 OPS over 623 plate appearances during his career. The other factor is that he has one year left until free agency and he will likely receive approximately $8.1M through arbitration according to MLBTR.
All that adds up to someone that the Pirates would like to move, but could have trouble finding anything of value in return. Heyman reported two weeks ago that the Pirates have Alvarez on the trading block, but as Tim Williams pointed out, his low overall value makes him more of a non-tender candidate than a trade candidate, as he could probably be signed for less than his arbitration figure.
