With 14 days left before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the Pirates have played well enough to cause the front office to consider upgrades, but their roster lacks a clear avenue for improvement.
“We want to help this club,” general manager Neal Huntington said last week. “This club’s worked hard to put itself in position to be a playoff contender, and if we can add to it, then it’s our responsibility to work to do that.”
The Pirates are 53-35 entering tonight’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park but still 2½ games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central.
“It’s tough, because we’re watching baseball and we’re watching [another] division and the first-place team is winning by — they got a five-game lead and they’re seven games over .500,” Andrew McCutchen said. “It’s like, geez. If we were in that division, we’d be killing it right now.”
They made no moves at either of the previous two trade deadlines. They were 49-46 and in fourth place at last year’s All-Star break, but in 2013 they were 56-37 and one game back of first. That year, they made two August waiver trades, acquiring Marlon Byrd and Justin Morneau.
“We’re in a good spot that there are some areas that we can shore up, but there’s not a glaring hole where we may have to vastly overpay to close it down,” Huntington said.
The only clear positions in need of upgrade offensively are right field and first base, and upgrading either presents a challenge. Pirates first basemen — mostly Pedro Alvarez — have been worth minus-1.3 Wins Above Replacement this year, the second-worst total in Major League Baseball. Their right fielders — mostly Gregory Polanco — are worth minus-0.9 WAR, 28th in MLB.
Relegating Polanco, 23, to a bench role or sending him to the minors could impede his development. Taking Alvarez out of the lineup removes a potential 30-home run hitter.
“It’s been a challenge for him,” Huntington said of Alvarez. “You do still see the signs. You see the signs of a guy that’s commanding the zone better and swinging and missing less. At the same time, we roll over too much and don’t take what the pitcher gives us.”
Upgrading the bench — which in addition to catcher Chris Stewart includes Gorkys Hernandez, Travis Ishikawa, Sean Rodriguez and whomever the Pirates call up today to balance the roster at 13 position players and 12 pitchers — would be easier. Fox Sports reported that the Pirates had some level of interest in Philadelphia’s Jeff Francoeur, a right-handed right fielder who has a .277 on-base percentage and six home runs this season. Francoeur, 31, is making $950,000.
Upgrading the rotation would involve taking the risk of losing Jeff Locke or Vance Worley. If the Pirates added a starter to supplement their exceptional trio of Francisco Liriano, A.J. Burnett and Gerrit Cole, it is unlikely they would put both Locke and Worley in the bullpen, especially in light of their decision to trade Clayton Richard rather than use him in relief. Neither Locke nor Worley have options, and it is unlikely either would clear waivers.
According to the Boston Globe, the Pirates have scouted Miami pitcher Dan Haren. The Pirates and Marlins have a history of making trades in recent years, including the Gaby Sanchez and Bryan Morris deals. Haren has a 3.24 ERA in 111 innings this season.
Teams looking to add are operating in a seller’s market. All but eight teams are within six games of a wild-card spot.
“That doesn’t mean deals won’t be made,” Huntington said. “It doesn’t mean we won’t be in the middle of things and we’ll work to try to accomplish some things to shore up some soft spots in the club.”
Today
Game: Pirates at Brewers, 8:10 p.m. ET, Miller Park, Milwaukee.
TV, Radio: Root Sports, KDKA-FM (93.7).
Probable starters: RHP Charlie Morton (6-2, 4.15 ERA) for the Pirates; RHP Mike Fiers (4-7, 3.96) for the Brewers.
Key matchup: Morton vs. the first inning, in which he has a 13.50 ERA this year.
Hidden stat: Fiers’ ERA has decreased each month this season.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: July 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
