According to Jon Heyman, the Pittsburgh Pirates are looking at a group of center fielders to help fill the gap left by the Starling Marte trade.
Heyman noted in a tweet this morning that “Free agents Kevin Pillar, Billy Hamilton and Cameron Maybin are among CF candidates Pirates are considering.”
In a tweet yesterday, Heyman noted that the Pirates were trying to get back a center fielder from the Padres, specifically mentioning 25-year-old Manuel Margot. He had a .691 OPS in 151 games last year, while providing above average defense in center field, resulting in a 1.8 WAR.
Pirates seek a CF following Marte trade, either via trade or free agency. They tried for Margot in Marte talks with SD but Padres were reluctant to deal him in those talks.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 29, 2020
The 31-year-old Pillar hit .264/.293/.442 in 156 games for the Giants last year. He has a career .701 OPS over seven seasons in the majors. He has been known as a strong defender in center field over the years, though he peaked at a combined 7.4 dWAR in 2015-17, and has put up 0.1 over the last two seasons, including a -0.2 last year.
Hamilton is 29 years old and coming off of a .218/.289/.275 slash line in 119 games, split between the Royals and Braves. His 22 stolen bases are a career low for a full season, and just like Pillar, he had his worst defensive season according to dWAR, with a -0.3 mark.
Maybin, who turns 33 on April 4th, hit .285/.364/.494 in 82 games for the Yankees in 2019. That’s well above his .701 career OPS over his 13 seasons in the majors. Maybin played just 20 innings in center field in 2019, and split his time almost 50/50 between left field and center field in the two prior seasons. He had a -0.2 dWAR last year as a corner outfielder.
It’s a group of veterans that are all on the downside defensively, but Pillar hit a career high 21 homers in 2019 and Maybin had his best season at the plate, so they would help the offense. Pillar was with Toronto until joining the Giants in early April last year, so there’s a connection with this front office.
