The Pirates, who lead the NL Central with a 48-37 record, aim to improve their roster for the second half of the season. “We’re in a buying mode,” manager Clint Hurdle said, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Pirates have inquired on Carlos Quentin and Justin Upton, two of the top bats available this summer. Here are the details on the Pirates…
- “Our focus is to exhaustively search all opportunities to add to this club and to execute the right move(s) to make this club better,” GM Neal Huntington said, according to Biertempfel.
- The Diamondbacks and Padres might have some degree of interest in right-hander Brad Lincoln in potential deals involving Upton and Quentin, Biertempfel reports (on Twitter). The Diamondbacks are scouting the Pirates’ Triple-A team and the Padres are scouting the Pirates’ Class A West Virginia team, Biertempfel adds.
- Biertempfel suggests the Pirates could use starting pitching depth.
- Within Biertempfel’s piece a handful of former general managers share thoughts on what the Pirates should do this year.
Brad Lincoln? Pass.
he would make the horrible padres bullpen better
The Padres have been decimated with injuries, and have many younger pitchers in the pen that haven’t logged enough innings to show what they can do. They’re very talented, but inexperienced. Lincoln could help, but he wouldn’t be the centerpiece of any deal with the aforementioned players.
he could also play a starter role
As the 2nd piece behind a top prospect along with him, sure.
Cue Pirates fans thinking they can use Lincoln as a centerpiece
Cue Cincinnati Laughing quietly in the background.
Crickets. Pirate fans are not Mets fans. They are actually smart and know that it would take more.
vtadave what are you talking about? Every Met fan knows they can get Justin Upton for a package built around Jason Bay and Manny Acosta.
Lincoln is certainly not a centerpiece but he’s been fantastic as a reliever where his stuff plays much better. FWIW, I’d personally deal Joel Hanrahan before I’d trade Brad Lincoln, who I think could be an effective closer right now…
I don’t want to see Lincoln go. He is lights out when he comes out of the bullpen. I could see him as a good closer. He has a ridiculous ERA out of the pen. Its something like 0.45. The hammer likes to make things interesting at the end of the game.
As much as I like him in our bullpen, that is really all he is good for. If the Dbacks think he has value then by all means add him into the trade to get Upton. Maybe Tallion, Lincoln, and Grossman? Depending on how much value they see in Lincoln as a Starter.
Nope …MAYBE Taillon, Marte and Lincoln..plus a B prospect.
if that’s what it will take, i pass. if Marte is the real deal, he can be close to what Upton is now. i’d rather go for Quentin.
Marte is one year younger than Justin Upton. He’s making his first pass at AAA. Upton is a two-time All Star. I’m thinking the chances are slim that Marte develops into anything remotely close to what Upton already is (let alone can still become).
i still stand by my contention that i wouldn’t trade Marte, Taillon, Lincon, and another solid prospect. they can’t afford to trade two of their most promising prospects for Upton yet because they could just as easily turn into the Brewers by depleting their farm system.
I will be surprised if the trade Marte, he is going to be amazing. Upton, McCutchen, Marte. Amazing outfield
No chance they deal Marte or Taillon right now. So much stock in those 2
Really? Upton to the Padres? Then imagine if they had kept Adrian Gonzalez and Mat Latos, and Cory Luebke was off the DL (I’m not forgetting Cameron Maybin and Carlos QuiLadies and Gentleman). Would that not be a great team? Someone send this to Josh Byrnes.
Dude it says lincoln to the Padres. haha
or the Diamondbacks. ha ha ha
Probably should give the second bullet point a closer read. Both teams are looking at Lincoln of the Pirates, not trading with each other.
huh?
What do you want me to Derp again?
Outfield after deadline: Sutton, Cutch, Upton. Sounds like a world series to me 🙂 lol
How about a blockbuster trade of something around Headley and Quentin, (hear me out its the All-Star break and I am craving for rumors so bare with my rambling) and players such as, Marte, Lock, Owens, Hanson or Polanco. Possibly even trying to land Cole or Taillon.
No, not all of those players. I am saying the Padres could match up well with the players surrounding a blockbuster deal.
Marte would be good to see in a return because the Padres do not have any impact OF’s ready to replace Quentin. Unless you believe James Darnell or Kyle Blanks will ever be healthy and are those guys. I have my doubts even though I like both. But Quentin won’t land him alone.
Hanson was who I initially brought up awhile ago along with Lock for Headley. That was before BA’s mid-season update prospect list. He’s [Hanson] shooting up the board, and for good reason. But I could see the Padres trying to land young, controllable arms that are MLB ready or close like Lock or Owens. That makes sense.
I could also see going after a lower level high upside player like a Polonco who has impact potential. Stack the system. He’s incredibly young, with loads of upside. Hitting is raw, but he’s making great strides.
It is hard to imagine giving up Taillon or Cole in a deal that didn’t center around Upton. Admittedly.
With the Padres injury plagued season, I could easily see them stock up on arms once again. Pitching, pitching and more pitching.
It would have to be either Quentin or Headley. The Pirates are set at 1st and 3rd with Jones/McGahee and Pedro. What they need is a corner OF power bat without giving away a top prospect. I would think Headley would be a better option bc Huntington stated that he doesnt want a rental player, which Quentin is, and Headley has anout 2 years if acquired. Headley could play RF and spot-start at either 1st or 3rd if needed. His bat, although not as powerful as Quentin, would instantly be a top 3 in our lineup. He could also bridge the gap for a few years until other prospects might be ready to make the jump, like a Grossman, Bell, Barnes. (I do know that Bell and Barnes are probably atleast 3 years away though, but you never know).
Now what would it take to get Headley? It seems the asking price is pretty high on him. The Padres do need some major league ready players with upside, so I think potentially a deal surrounding Tabata might work. I’m only an armchair GM, but I would like to see a deal that would be a Tabata, Lincoln, one of our AAA pitchers (Locke, Owens, Morris, Wilson) all of which seems ready to make the next jump, and a lower prospect like Polanco or Ozuna.
Seems like a pretty fair deal, 4 guys with pretty big upside for a pretty solid player but not a star.
Maybe. Could look to move Alvarez to 1B. Headley’s numbers away from Petco park are remarkable. He’s also the consistency the Bucks could use. And not just for this year, but for the future.
Headley will NOT play the OF again. Jones, but not Headley. He’s a great defensive third baseman, and a terrible OF.
When I asked Matt Eddy of Baseball America if Lock and Hanson would be fair, he implied the Padres could get more, to my surprise considering Hanson’s emergence of late.
Headley is not being traded for anything less than upside players in my opinion. Because they do not have to move him. Sky high value. Look Quality for Headley, not quantity.
Im not sure how good the Padres farm is, so thats why I went for quantity with upside. Locke I wouldnt mind moving, but I’d like to keep Hansen around a bit. He has a great bat, although he makes a bunch of errors. This is the first time in a long time the Pirates actually have a good SS prospect in their system. The errors are a bit worrisome, but lots of great SS made errors in their early years in the minors
The deepest in baseball. Not as many huge impact guys, but many potential quality MLB players. Although, plagued with injuries right now.
I just don’t see the Padres interested in Tabata and his guaranteed contract. I look at the Hunter Pence trade as sort of a template for any Headley trade. Phillies traded the #70 prospect in baseball and #39 prospect in baseball in Cosart and Singleton.
Would much rather see the Pirates go after a guy like Quentin for a Gregory Polanco type Single-A OF. No need to mortgage the future for a guy like Upton; if he has so much value, why are the D’Backs trying to get rid of him? Something smells fishy to me. Besides, Marte has the potential to provide equal value of Upton, making up for the power disparity in blazing speed and ++ defense. Let someone else overpay for Upton.
The Dbacks are considering trading Upton for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that Kevin Towers is the GM. He is ALWAYS willing to listen to deals, just in case a team wants to seriously overpay.
Other than that though, it is becoming apparent that the team needs some shaking up. Upton is easily the most coveted piece on their roster. They still have 3 other starting OFers on the 25 man roster and 2 of their top 10 prospects are also OFers. Pollack has already been up once, and after a slow start, looks ready to be in the bigs.
So if the Dbacks can get a monster haul for Upton, then why not trade from a position of strength like they did with their starting pitching?
The reason why they shouldnt is because we are 4 games back and very much still in contention. I dont see us being a better team this year without upton no matter what haul we get in return.
There aren’t many deals kt gets on the right end of
Kevin Towers deals always look great at first. Until one day you realize that you traded Jake Peavy for Clayton Richard..
Really? How about acquiring Gonzalez and Chris Young from Texas for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka?
Or how about when forced to clear payroll by dealing Jake Peavy to the
Chicago Towers brought back Clayton Richard + AND cleared payroll while he was on the DL no less. That was huge!
How about traded Marc Newfield, Ron Villone and Bryce Florie to the Milwaukee Brewers for Greg Vaughn and Gerald Parent? 50 bombs for Vaughn helping the Padres to their second World Series appearance in 98.
How about Scott Sanders to the Seattle Mariners for Sterling Hitchcock? Huge. The D-Lee trade brought Kevin Brown. Another guy who helped the Padres get to the WS. Worth it. How about Joey Hamilton to the Toronto Blue Jays for Woody Williams, Carlos Almanzar and Peter Tucci?
How about trading Andy Sheets and Gus Kennedy to the Anaheim Angels for Phil Nevin and Keith Volkma?
How about Quilvio Veras, Wally Joyner and Reggie Sanders to the Atlanta Braves for Bret Boone, Ryan Klesko and Jason Shiell?
How about trading Jay Payton, Ramon Vazquez and David Pauley to the Boston Red Sox for Dave Roberts?
How about trading Phil Nevin to the Texas Rangers for Chan Ho Park?
How about trading Doug Mirabelli to the Boston Red Sox for Cla Meredith and Josh Bard?
How about trading Josh Barfield to the Cleveland Indians for Kevin Kouzmanoff and Andrew Brown?
How about trading Scott Linebrink to the Milwaukee Brewers for Will Inman, Joe Thatcher and Steve Garrison?
What’s not to like about his trading track record overall? Wow.
Pass
I’m beginning to wonder if adding to and subtracting from the MLB roster would be in the best interest of the team right now? These guys are doing great and there’s not really one player who needs to be replaced, aside from Barmes which isn’t happening.
They could use another outfielder and a starting pitcher, but that’s pretty much it. As mediocre as Jones and McGahee appear to be, they’ve been two of the hottest hitters in the league, along with Cutch, Walker, Alvarez, and McBarajas.
The best move may be getting a decent bat, but not a stud, and bringing in another very good SP just to supplement AJ and McDonald. Bedard is simply not cutting it right now, and Correia is getting by on the skin of his teeth, but at least he’s performing like you’d expect from a 5th starter.
Even if they were to acquire guys like Brandon McCarthy and Seth Smith, I think I’d be happy with letting them ride it out with who they have right now and not getting rid of any top prospects.
You have to protect Cutch in the lineup at some point. They’re not going to pitch to him forever.
I agree with your premise here. The trick is to tinker without trading Tailon. If you can get away with it then go for the pennant if not then let the chips fall where they may and improve even more next year and more still the year after.
I just hope Pirate fans support the team so they can keep it together.
Maybe they meant Barry Lincoln from the Adam Sandler skit?
The Pirates need to think a little bigger than just Upton or Carlos. Can they get CarGo???? They can’t protect all of their prospects in Rule V next year, so they might as well package a bunch of the ones they don’t think can make it and shoot for something bigger. I’m also surprised a mention of Cody Ross or Adam Lind hasn’t been made.
a) CarGo is not leaving Colorado
b) if there are prospects the Pirates don’t think can make it, why do you think they would be valuable enough to net one of the best players in all of baseball?
Quantity is not the same as quality. Guys at risk of being lost in the Rule V draft would have no real value in a trade for Carlos Gonzalez. I’d love Gonzalez and would pay much more for him than I would for Upton but they’d get him by packaging guys like Taillon, Marte, etc. not by dangling Duke Welker…
CarGo scares me as much as Upton. His home/road splits are crazy and he’ll require an even bigger package to get(and his salary is bigger I believe.) No thanks!
Yes sir, just posted this myself.
I really would like Pirates to look at guys like Victorino, Lowrie, and a McCarty type.
These players will cost less, help you, and you keep your key young talent, something the Pirates are banking their future on. Pirates took a while to work up their farm system, now its 8th-11th best in baseball and I don’t want to see it get hit for one or two players.
Pirates should be concentrating on 2 years from now when you could have Cole and Possibly Heredia up, I think Heredia will take 3 years, but who knows.
If the Pirates are going big, then I would love to see them get CarGo. Great point about not being able to protect all their players to Rule V. I’m still in the camp of making modest moves instead of blowing up the farm though. I think a number 3 starter and a corner OF is of biggest need. I would hate to those Taillon, I have been dreaming of a rotation of Cole, Taillon, Heredia, and Appel if all goes according to plan.
CarGo Home/Road splits scare me..
.777 OPS and 5 Homers away from Coors.
The reverse Chase Headley. Coors field, thank you, Petco, expletive.
I’d go Marte or Cole (not both), Lincoln and Hanson for Upton. If the Diamondback say no I walk away. Upton is good, but not so outstanding that he gets 2 of the Pirates big 4 (Cole, Talion, Bell, Marte). He shows some injury potential and some prima donna diva-ish tendencies that I don’r love.
As for Quintin, I go Lincoln straigh up. In the long run I’d rather have 5 more years of Lincoln than Quinin.
IMO Cole, Heredia, and Hanson are untouchables.
I would move Bell before Polanco.
I wouldn’t trade Cole for Upton. Honestly I can’t think of many players I’d trade him for right now, Tulo and Longo are injured, Harper and Trout wouldn’t happen. I would take Votto or Bautista for him, and maybe Starlin Castro, that is how much I’d value him because I don’t see any of those deals happening, but Theo would probably trade Castro for Cole and another prospect, just not sure about that.
starlin castro was the weirdest way to end that list
Taillon, Lincoln, Garrett Jones, Jordy Mercer, Polanco, and Owens / Locke / MacPherson (one of the three) for Upton???? Some guys to contribute to the MLB club immediately, and a couple seriously high upside guys with a couple more guys who project to be average or better at the MLB level… seems steep but steep is the only thing getting Upton…
Crazy?
I would do Lincoln, Marte, Grossman, Kingham.
Pirates need to be cautious here. Strange Zona is getting rid of a such a young star who is under control for 3 years. Plus as Oleny pointed out Pittsburgh needs to review all medical history first on Upton.
I think we all would love to have some of these guys but let’s be realistic here. We need guys in AAA like Marte and now Tabata to become solid everyday players and we need the current lineup to stay consistent. If anything, we need a solid SP that won’t break the bank but will hold down the spot for the rest of the season. No way do we trade high upside prospects or key arms in the bullpen for a rental player. Also, don’t blow up the bullpen by removing guys who are doing great like Lincoln. He has helped get us here in a significant way and should stay put.
Honestly most of this thread is hoffific pirates trades, because alot of these fans have never been in this situation before. If you want an impact bat then you have to pay.
I would ask for Tailon,Bryan Morris, Grossman, and Marte. Justin Upton should not be about quantity but quality. If I get “hung up” then what do I care, there are only I would say 28 other teams who would be interested.
This is a franchise changing trade for both teams and both need to make sure they get franchise changing talent.
A fact that also needs to be addressed is Upton’s salary. He’s no bargain. While he is under control for 3 more seasons, it’s an expensive three season.
For example McCutchen is signed through 18 at 51.5 million and Upton gets 41.5 through 15.
mccutchen is signed through 2017 at 49.25 million. they then have a 14.75 mill option for 2018. so they have him under control through 2018 at 64 million.
I wouldnt be surprised if the Pirates just showed some interest in Upton(whos owed a ton still, while having a down year) and will actually settle for Parra. He plays great def has good OBP steals bases has some pop. Could fit in at leadoff for a team that has been bad i that spot. Lincoln and Jose Osuna maybe.
Quentin is going to garner too much interest and need too much to get. I really think they should make a run at Headly good #s outside of Petco. I dont think he’d require a top 6 prospect but maybe 2 of top 15 Owens grossman + a low level guy.
But Headley will cost a ton more than Quentin.
I am drooling at the thought of Upton in right field, but the Pirates are a small market team and have finally have spent some time and money in the draft these last few years. I would like to see what plays out with some of these “can’t miss” prospects. I always get mad when I see teams build through the draft because the pirates have had opportunities to do the same over the last 20yrs.
It’s a tough call and one i’m glad I don’t have to make because the window for teams that need to build through the draft are small.
After reading these posts, I completely understand why none of us are the GM for the Pirates.
Marte straight up for Quentin? Padres need a guy like Upton that can actually hit the ball over the Petco walls of doom. I think he avg’s over 410 per bomb, that would get it done or have alot of off the walls 2 baggers.
I hope not. I would break down and cry if the Pirates traded Starling Marte for a rental. If you want a 1 for 1 deal, I think my max would be a guy like Gregory Polanco or I would make a package deal that included guys like Wily Garcia, Nick Kingham or Jose Osuna.
Dammit! If the Padres are scouting the West Virginia team, it must mean they’re interested in Alen Hansen! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Wow his stats are quite beefy for a little guy
I was thinking Osuna or ZVR…possibly Polanco. No way they give them AH for Lego Man…not as a rental
if the padres are going to trade quentin, please to the pirates, so we can get marte, taillon or something like that
The “something like that” would be nothing like that.
Yep quentins trade value is right around 10% of Uptons.
If a trade for Quetin happens, you will get something like Locke and Gorky Hernandez.
Everybody knows everything until a actual trade happens……
you’re suggesting one year of Carlos Quentin is worth one of the Pirates’ best outfield prospects, if not their best?
Nope, I’m suggesting it’s baseball. You never know what is going to happen.
I was wondering how long it would take before people started noticing how dominant of a reliever Brad Lincoln can be. He is the prototypical closer in waiting, a guy who failed a s a starter but has the hard stuff to be untouchable for 1 inning at a time. As a Pirates fan, I would be more apt to trade Hanrahan before Lincoln.
Marte is 24, Upton is 25 … what is this like whole idea that marte will become anything better than Upton? You all are over valuing prospects
who said Marte will be BETTER than Upton? i didn’t see that anywhere.
Oh wait nevermind I reread what you wrote
I’m under the impression that players who are drafted, especially players drafted as high as Upton, tend to make it to the big leagues faster. Marte was an international FA, usually these players are more raw and need more grooming to be ready. Potential and being ready for the major leagues is two different things. In Upton’s case, AZ believed his ability and potential were high enough to fast track him to the majors
Dejan Kovacevic said it best. No team trades a player like Upton except for 1 of 3 reasons.
“A. The team trying to trade him knows something you don’t.
B. The team trying to trade him is looking for two of your three best prospects. At minimum.
C. Both.”
i think pirates should get wandy rodriguez, victorino, then hopefully jed lowrie.
wouldn’t mind hanson or polanco in a trade for quentin, we’ll see what happens.
Taillon, Marte and Alvarez for Upton and Roberts.
Yep If we were to trade J Up this would be my idea as well, Alvarez being the biggest part IMO
Bleh. Lincoln? Roster filler. Nothing more.