The Pirates have attempted to swing a trade involving infielder Josh Harrison and remain open to doing so, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Pittsburgh had hoped to deal Harrison and re-sign Sean Rodriguez, per the report, though was unable to complete such an arrangement before Rodriguez joined the Braves.
Harrison, 29, has seen his production at the plate tail off following a breakout 2014 campaign. He’s guaranteed another $19MM on the extension he signed the following winter, which covers two more seasons as well as buyouts on a pair of successive club options for 2019 and 2020.
The Bucs doubled down on Harrison after he put up 550 plate appearances of .315/.347/.490 hitting, with 13 home runs and 18 steals, in that 2014 season. He followed that up with league-average production in the following year, but fell further in 2016. Over his 522 trips to the plate, Harrison managed only a .283/.311/.388 slash with four homers.
Harrison’s bat is based largely on contact, as he rarely strikes out (14.3% for his career) or walks (3.5%). While his speed continues to allow him to generate a fairly elevated batting average on balls in play, Harrison slumped to 27.7% hard contact and a 19.5% line-drive rate in 2016, both of which fell shy of his output in the prior two years.
There is other value to be found in the infielder. He swiped 19 bags in his most recent season and has continued to rate as a quality overall baserunner. And Harrison’s glove rates well at both second and third. He’s also capable of playing the corner outfield or, in a pinch, shortstop.
The question for teams that might consider a move Harrison is whether they see any possibility that he’ll return to the power output he showed three years back. His .175 isolated slugging mark has dipped to just over .100 in the ensuing years, which rates well below average and leaves him as more of a quality utility infielder than an everyday option. Given Harrison’s inability to spend regular time at short, it’s somewhat unclear whether another organization would be willing to take over the fairly expensive contract.
For Pittsburgh, Harrison remains penciled in at second base as things stand. While David Freese remains available as an option at third after signing an extension in August, Rosenthal says that Jung Ho Kang would not be moved from the hot corner to second in the event that Harrison is dealt. Instead, it seems, the organization would consider youngsters Alen Hanson and Adam Frazier if they find a trade partner. Alternatively, the Pirates could pursue another external addition.
This is where I’d like to see the Dodgers take a chance. Defensively he can pick it. He’s also played the sub sub role before. He brings an element of speed and contact Also allows them to resign Utley as insurance.
Pretty sure they aren’t going to give $20M for a bench player, especially after their financial situation was just made into a story. Also pretty sure he won’t be happy to not play everyday.
He might be a better gamble over Utley, just because he’s half a dozen + years younger and does hit some. Would be nice to see him get on base more via walk tho.
Will the market for utility players start to go up after Zobrist deal now? Never know. Bullpen started becoming the rage following KC and Cleveland 2 years running. Super utility players that can play multiple positions and play them well, then hit decent, such as Zobrist, then guys a tier below him, such as Brock Holt and Harrison make a difference and IMO are very valuable, especially when some teams are employing AAAA refugees in that role.
Dodgers need to dump cash, not pay for league-average utility men
I never said Harrison wouldn’t play everyday probably a misguided choice of words “super utility”. They actually don’t need to dump salary as 100M is coming off the books in two years they are fine. Plus their financial situation was misplayed and spun because most people don’t understand that the 300M they spent on IFA and stadium one time expenditures skewed the calculator. People latched onto and didn’t do the research. They also aren’t going to be able to just dump salary. So it’d have to be a swap or reallocation of monies. Bad contract and a couple of block prospects for a bad contract. Stop with the financial situation exposed without actually doing the research.
I don’t quite remember, but when the dodgers new ownership was brought in, didn’t they make a statement saying they would spend a lot to put the organization back in good health?
I could be wrong, but I feel like this money thing was brought up a few years ago.
Yes it was. They didn’t think they’d get saddled with 412M in debt but they did which they’ve been paying off. They mentioned that they were going to try and create a substantial product only way to do that was to try and purge themselves of some of the massive dead weight contracts in which they successfully did with Kemp. What they weren’t able to do was find takers for Ethier and CC but those are off following this year. The payroll was naturally going to come down because they weren’t going to pay luxury tax each year. But I mean it’s really just a non story. Kind of unfortunate that people fall for click bait though.
I would love it too.
He is basically another Howie Kendrick with a more speed. LAD wouldn’t go after him. Sean Rodriquez would have been a better fit.
Essentially but there are a couple of differences. He’s not on the defensive downswing unlike Kendrick he is still a plus defender. Deferred money which was written in Howie’s contract also skews the debt ratio. Which if they look into deferring more money like in Kendrick and Kaz’s contract then they might be getting themselves into a problem not necessarily with debt but cutting into their profits later down the road. Rodriguez doesn’t have the track record of hitting LH that Harrison does. Rodriguez also probably wanted to be guaranteed an everyday job.
Or I should probably qualify that. The dodgers probably shouldn’t get into the habit of continuing to defer money they’ll owe Kendrick 5M in 17 and Kaz 16M from 2018-2019. They’ll only have the prospect clout to make one big move. So in terms of current roster construction I don’t see them using that clout on a big 2b. I can see them making a big trade on the pitching side, but Harrison makes a lot of sense.
I would love the Yankees to make a move for him. Maybe they can trade Brett Gardner
Last thing pirates need is another OF
Buccos don’t need Gardner, they may be interested in one of the first base prospects the Yankees have.
@geejohnny, only thing is the Yankees best prospects are either Middle IFers, OFers, or Pitchers. No natural 1B. Only natural 1B (who isn’t really a prospect anymore) is Greg Bird and if healthy he’s likely their starting 1B next season.
Why would they want to block Josh Bell?
Have you seen Bell attempt to play first? Not pretty.
I think the only thing the Yankees would trade Gardner for would be a pitcher.
Last thing the Yankees need is a 30 year old contact hitter with no power in left field, especially since he would basically be replacing the same type of hitter in Gardner who at least brings a Gold Glove to the party.
This guys not worth it, with all the :metrics” he brings. Let somebody else make the mistake of taking on his salary.
He wouldn’t be playing left field.
I see the NYM jumping on this guy. Would be a smart pick up.
Harrison fits what the Jays need pretty much to a T. Big questions about Travis’ health plus needing to get JD and Tulo regular rest and the fact he can fill a corner OF spot, Harrison would be a perfect super sub. Question is, what would the Pirates want in return.
And he would probably go on to display monster power just because it’s the Jays.
Let’s start with one of the prospects we gave up in the Liriano salary dump. I’d prefer McGuire
It would have to be McGuire. We don’t have a need for another OF prospect in Ramirez. Austin Meadows is on the way up to likely replace Cutch.
I’d be hesitant to part with McGuire but what about Max Pentecost plus something small? Max is a much bigger question mark of course but if he can remain behind the plate and continues improving his hit tool, you’re looking at a very valuable asset potentially.
In other astounding news, the Dodgers are “open” to trading Ethier, the Tigers, Anibal Sanchez, and the Red Sox, Pablo. There’s going to be many articles if these beat writers do this for every bad contract each team has.
Well Harrison’s contract is nowhere near the albatross those ones are. The entirety of his contract is about what those guys make in a year.
“Open to trading” means “Here, we don’t want this light hitting waste of money, but you might.”
Right on AddisonStreet…..too many GM’s playing with other peoples money making very bad decisions that never pay off.
Spot on AddisonStreet.
I don’t see Harrison going any where with out another trade bringing back a quality every day 2nd basemen.. Just from what I’ve seen of the pirates internal replacement options.. It would make me very nervous on an infield where the right side is already questionable with Bell.
But any one is available for the right price ::-)
Frazier actually was pretty impressive and the guess is to get him playing at 2nd more times than not.
his defense is still pretty questionable. his bat was solid, he has done well at the plate at every pro level hes been in…..
i’d also like to point out.. Harrison had an ‘average’ year on a team that sucked pretty much top to bottom minus a couple brighter spots.
IMO i wouldn’t make any moves with starting position players.. MAYBE if it involved a mid/top rotation mlb pitcher coming back.
I’m confused by this? Why would anybody give up prospects to pay Harrison 2/$19 when they could have just signed Sean Rodriguez for 2/$11.5? Luis Valbuena is also still on the market and he is projected at 2/$14.
Depends on team needs. The braves had the ability to guarantee Rodriguez a full time job who knows if teams were willing to make that commitment. Valbuena is atrocious against LH. So depends on what a team is looking for.
Harrison also throughout his career hasn’t seen a such drastic drop off in his splits against RH.
Also if Harrison does return to his 2014 form, he has 2 club options that are affordable, probably even more so given what salaries will be by that time.
This would be a good move for the Pirates IMO. I think they could still sell high on him.
I am thinking of a deal with the Braves Josh Harrison for Nick Markakis straight up.
The absolute last thing the Pirates want is another OF. They need starting pitching and relief pitching, middle INF, maybe 1B depending on what the plan is with Josh Bell.
dear braves fans, no one wants nick markakis….signed all of mlb
Alot of talk about pirates adding a starter and they love projects and the red sox could use a rh third base option maybe Buchholz for him
buccos lucky to get a bag of balls or a AA pitcher
Would love to see the Royals make a move on him here. This is a chance to rectify the mistake of not opening up the checkbook for Zobrist. Gordon is great, but Zobrist was the better option of the two in free agency last year for the Royals to re-sign.. Harrison is a Zobrist-lite player with a better glove and would be a perfect fit in KC’s lineup.
He’s a good fit right where he is as a super utility player.
Angels hopefully
Harrison’s extension was a poor excuse to spend money. The pirates would have been better off locking up Gerritt Cole before his breakout season.
Now they’re in a stare down with Scott Boras.