The MLB Winter Meetings have officially kicked off, with today being the first day, and potentially leading to the first moves. The biggest revelation this week for the Pirates will be their direction, and whether they are sellers or buyers. We may or may not find out the answer to that today. However, the early rumors and speculation has the team looking to sell.
First, there was Ken Rosenthal outright speculating yesterday that he thinks the Pirates will be sellers this week, and could trade Andrew McCutchen.
Ken Rosenthal just now on MLB Network said that he believes the Pittsburgh Pirates will be sellers at the winter meetings and he thinks McCutchen might be traded this week. Not a rumor on his part, his gut feeling
— John Dreker (@JohnDreker) December 11, 2017
That is just speculation, and far from a guarantee, but Rosenthal is the most connected baseball reporter, so his opinion and feel on this would have some weight.
Then there were some rumors surrounding Josh Harrison. Marc Carig of Newsday says that the Mets are looking for second basemen, and that they might explore a trade for Josh Harrison during the Winter Meetings. He also says that Ian Kinsler and Jason Kipnis are targets.
Mets have had trade talks with Tigers about Ian Kinsler and also with the Indians about Jason Kipnis. I hear they may also use winter meetings to explore deal with Pirates for Josh Harrison.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) December 9, 2017
Bill Brink of the Post-Gazette also reports that the Mets have some interest, and adds the Blue Jays to that mix as well. This doesn’t necessarily mean the Pirates are sellers, since this is just a report that two teams are interested in one of their players. But you’d have to believe that teams exploring a trade for one of the Pirates’ starting position players are going in with the assumption that the Pirates will be selling, and probably for good reason.
Again, we have no confirmation of what direction the Pirates are heading in, but some strong early predictions and indications have them as sellers this week.
We’ll be keeping track of all of the news and rumors this week, along with analysis on any transaction that takes place.
