The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, moving to 53-52, two games out of the NL Wild Card. They have one more game before the trade deadline. The Pirates will travel to Houston for a three-game series, with Paul Skenes on the mound for Monday’s game.
MLB.com released a list of the most likely trade candidates before the deadline, along with potential fits for each player. Some of the players from the article have already been moved, including the Rays trading infielder Isaac Paredes to the Cubs.
The Pirates were mentioned as potential fits for a few hitters.
Luis Rengifo – The infielder for the Angels plays second and third base, is owed $1.45 million this year, and is arbitration eligible in 2025. He’s hitting .300/.348/.421 this year with six homers and 23 stolen bases, and has put up a 1.7 WAR in each of the last two seasons. With Nick Gonzales going down this weekend, the Pirates could use an infielder who can play second base. Rengifo would be a downgrade defensively over Gonzales, but would give the Pirates a bat in the lineup. The Red Sox and Yankees were also mentioned as potential fits.
Michael Conforto/Mike Yastrzemski – The Giants are expected to sell, and have two outfielders they could move. Conforto is the more expensive of the two, owed about $6 million for the remainder of the year. Yastrzemski is owed about $2.6 million, and is arbitration eligible in 2025. Conforto is batting .225/.299/.411 this year, showing some power with ten homers in 311 plate appearances. The 31-year-old has only played left field this year, but played right field last year. He hasn’t played center field since 2019. Yastrzemski seems like the better fit for the Pirates. He’s batting .249/.322/.440 with eight homers in 287 plate appearances this year. He’s spent most of his time in right field this year, but has played center every year since 2019, showing positive defense at the position. He would likely cost $12-13 million through the end of the 2025 season, but has been a consistent 1.5-2.5 WAR player in each of the last six seasons.
Elias Diaz – The Pirates have Joey Bart as their starting catcher, with Yasmani Grandal moved to a backup role. Diaz would be an upgrade over both, and would give the Pirates a good platoon option with Bart. This year, Diaz is hitting .275/.324/.389, and has a .635 OPS away from Coors Field. Bart has been the better hitter, with a .768 OPS, but Diaz excels defensively. The Pirates would be upgraded going with Diaz/Bart over Bart/Grandal. Diaz would be owed about $2 million the rest of the year.
Yandy Diaz – The corner infielder for the Rays could be on the move, as Tampa has been one of the most active sellers at the deadline. Diaz is owed $2.65 million the remainder of this year, with $10 million in 2025, and a $12 million club option for 2026. He’s hitting .270/.326/.397 with nine homers in 429 plate appearances this year, in his age-32 season. This comes one year after a 5.0 WAR season. Diaz hasn’t played much third base this year, and would be a severe downgrade defensively over Ke’Bryan Hayes. He wouldn’t match the offense from Rowdy Tellez over the last two months at first base. He’d be an expensive backup option for either spot, and honestly, I would let the phone go to voicemail if I saw the Rays were calling with an offer. They have a knack for unloading players at the right time, while getting the most under-valued prospects from other teams.
Tommy Pham – The 36-year-old outfielder is hitting .266/.330/.380 with five homers in 297 plate appearances this year for the White Sox. He’d be owed about $800,000 the remainder of the year, and can play all three outfield spots. He’d be a severe downgrade over Michael A. Taylor in center field from a defensive standpoint, though his OPS would be almost 200 points higher. He’d be a cheap rental to add depth to the outfield.
These aren’t the only players who could be available in the next two days. This list does highlight that the Pirates will likely need at least two bats — one infielder and one outfielder — if they want to push for the Wild Card spot. The MLB Trade Deadline is Tuesday at 6 PM EST.
From the list above, I like Yastrzemski as a sleeper upgrade for center field, and I think the Pirates should go after Elias Diaz. I think they could handle the infield depth internally if they add an outfielder.
Pirates Win a Wild One
The Pirates won a wild game on Sunday, beating the Diamondbacks 6-5 in ten innings. The tenth inning saw the Pirates score four runs, with Colin Holderman narrowly escaping with the win after allowing three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Mitch Keller got the start, and once again looked great. He allowed two runs in seven innings of work, striking out six batters. Keller now has a 3.30 ERA in 128.1 innings this season. That ranks him 22nd in ERA out of 68 qualified pitchers this year. He’s also thrown the 13th most innings in the game.
What I liked about the win on Sunday was the urgency shown by manager Derek Shelton. With the team down 2-1 on the road in the eighth inning, he turned to closer David Bednar to keep things close. Bednar responded with a scoreless inning.
From there, Shelton was managing to win in the ninth inning. He brought in Rowdy Tellez as a pinch hitter for Connor Joe to start the inning, and Tellez responded with a double. He was then replaced by Alika Williams on the bases. After two strikeouts, Shelton brought in Joey Bart to pinch hit for Michael A. Taylor, and Bart delivered with an RBI double to right field, tying the game.
Taylor had previously pinch hit for Jack Suwinski, leaving the Pirates short on outfielders. With Tellez pinch hitting for Joe, then being replaced on the bases, the Pirates were also without a first baseman. They sent Jared Triolo to right field for his first MLB appearance in the outfield. They also moved Yasmani Grandal to first base.
Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth inning, helped out by a diving catch from Triolo for the third out, on a play that was upheld by replay.
The Pirates scored four runs in the tenth, with the first two coming from a wild pitch with the bases loaded, and a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded again. Ke’Bryan Hayes added much needed insurance, with a two out, two RBI single.
Colin Holderman allowed a two run homer to start the bottom half of the inning. He also gave up a two out solo homer, putting the game within one. After a triple put the tying run at third, Holderman got a ground out to first, on a nice play by Grandal to end the game.
Roster Moves
Nick Gonzales went down with a groin injury during Saturday’s game against the Diamondbacks. The Pirates placed the second baseman on the 10-day injured list on Sunday, and it doesn’t sound like he’ll be back soon. On his radio show on 93.7 The Fan, Pirates’ General Manager Ben Cherington said that Gonzales would be measured in weeks, not days. He did express hope that Gonzales could return by the end of the 2024 season.
The Pirates called up Alika Williams to take the place of Gonzales. Williams was riding a nine-game hitting streak in Triple-A before the promotion, and came up big in the win on Sunday, scoring the eventual winning run after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
It appears that Williams is going to stick around.
After the game on Sunday, the Pirates optioned Jack Suwinski to the minors. With Bryan Reynolds expected to return tomorrow from the bereavement list, and their second baseman out, the Pirates are keeping a few second basemen on the roster. In addition to Williams, the Pirates called up Ji Hwan Bae earlier this week. Bae has been hitting well in Triple-A, and will get a chance to carry that over to the majors.
Josh Fleming, who was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A over the weekend, has elected free agency. The left-hander had a 4.02 ERA in 31.1 innings with Pittsburgh this year, including three appearances as an opener.
Pirates Prospect Watch
Henry Davis homered on Sunday, extending his hitting streak to nine games. He’s also cut down on his strikeouts lately. Hunter Barco left his start in Altoona in the second inning. Patrick Reilly extended his minor league system lead in strikeouts to 108 in his four shutout inning start in Greensboro. Bradenton was fueled by four home runs, including two from Esmerlyn Valdez. The FCL Pirates dropped game one of the FCL Finals. Read about all of Sunday’s minor league action in the latest Pirates Prospect Watch:
https://piratesprospects.com/2024/07/pirates-prospect-watch-henry-davis-is-showing-improvements-at-the-plate.html
