The Pirates are interested in trading for Phillies outfielder Ben Revere, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter). The Bucs also have interest in Jeff Francoeur, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Pittsburgh is also looking into other bench and platoon bats in its search for depth at the deadline, Morosi tweets.
Revere struggled at the plate early in the season and at one point it appeared that he would be relegated to the bench once Cody Asche and Domonic Brown returned to full health. However, he has turned things around as of late and his ongoing hitting streak – now at nine games – has elevated his slash line to .294/.335/.377. The 27-year-old has also stolen 21 bases on the year and he could be a solid leadoff option for Pittsburgh while Josh Harrison is sidelined.
Revere was connected to both the Mariners and Angels this summer. Recently, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported that in June the Phillies and Angels came close on a trade that would’ve sent Revere to Anaheim for right-hander Trevor Gott. The Phils thought the deal was done but the Halos “pulled out of the deal at the last minute and tried to redirect the Phillies toward a starting pitching prospect.”
Francoeur, who inked a minor league deal with Philly in November, will be a free agent after the 2015 season. The 31-year-old has slashed .246/.278/.410 with six homers in 194 plate appearances this year. Those numbers won’t get him to Cincinnati later this week, but that does mark an uptick from the last few years: between 2012 and 2014, the veteran hit just .222/.269/.346 for the Royals, Giants, and Padres. The veteran has also had success against righties this year with a slash line of .269/.304/.481 across 115 plate appearances. It wouldn’t take much for the Pirates to get Francoeur, Biertempfel tweets, and he suggests that a Double-A pitcher like Steven Brault could get the job done.
Harrison is set to miss seven weeks with a torn UCL in his thumb and, recently, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said that could lead to the Bucs being “aggressive with early opportunity to add” this month. The Bucs have a capable replacement in Jung-Ho Kang taking over for Harrison at third base, but the loss of the versatile Kang leaves the Pirates with an underwhelming bench of Chris Stewart, Sean Rodriguez, Steve Lombardozzi, Gorkys Hernandez and Travis Ishikawa.
I don’t see how Revere is a good fit with the Pirates. Gregory Polanco has swung the bat well since taking over the leadoff spot for Harrison. If anything, the Bucs should he looking for a RH bat to compliment Polanco. Francoeur wouldn’t be my first choice, but he’s not a bad one.
could go after marlon byrd
The logic still totally escapes me as to why Jose Tabata is not occupying a bench spot for the Pirates. He is hitting.303 in the minors, being paid $4 M dollars whether with the major league team, or not, and was hitting .289 when he was demoted. Are his personal issues so overwhelming that he has totally blown any chance to ever be a major league ballplayer again? If team management is unwilling to consider Tabata as a viable team option, it can be assumed that they will need to significantly overpay to construct a bench that is of a playoff caliber.
Maybe because you and I have the same amount of home runs he does this season?
You mean to say that you, me, Gorkys Hernandez, and Lombardozzi combined, don’t you? Yet, none of us has hit anywhere near .289 on a major league level.
And yet they are in the majors and he isn’t. I think he’s used up all his chances. These other bench players are just fillers until the deadline anyway. Either Phillies outfielder would be an upgrade. Francoeur would come cheap. Revere may be worth the asking price. Though I am sure some cheaper options are out there.
My personal opinion about Tabata has always been his desire/attitude. I’m sure it’s a chemistry issue for the Pirates right now. They’ve got good chemistry right now and don’t need any potential issues with Tabata.
Or why don’t they see if they can get marlon byrd back from the reds.
I don’t understand the Tabata move, and I still don’t understand why they traded Travis Snider away – he would be the perfect bench bat for us right now, and was always a better option than Corey Hart. Especially odd if they are just going to turn around and trade Brault away for a bench bat.
I would pass on both.
Don’t want a mediocre 23 year old AA pitcher for Francoeur, I’d rather keep him and sign him to another year or 2 contract for bench strength. Revere you can have, but your sure as heck not getting him for a AA guy who’s not that promising
Is that why Francoeur starts for the Phillies? A promising pitching prospect in AA is about what you’ll get for him. That’s reality. Nobodies banging the door down for Francoeur I’m sure. We’re looking for add ons which is exactly what they are for the Phillies.
How much do you reasonably expect in return for Revere as a team in the rebuilding phase? I’m not saying Revere won’t bring back a nifty piece, but a AA guy with some level of intrigue(aka not an entire nobody) seems pretty close to on par with what he should bring/what Amaro would conceivably look for.
Revere is a good player. Should bring AT LEAST a AAA player. Angels I believe were offering up a good pitching prospect, Trevor Gott, Who’s Better then Brault, but it fell through. Hell, Gott is pitching in the bigs this year
Saying he should bring back “at least a AAA player” is not the correct way of looking at a trade. You should be more focused on how good of a prospect a player is, not what level they’re currently at.
There are plenty of mediocre prospects and journeymen at AAA. The Phillies (or any other team for that matter) would want the best prospect they could get in a deal. Hypothetically speaking, I’d much rather get a 20 year old player in single-A who’s a borderline top-100 prospect than a 25 year old in AAA who projects as a utility man just because one player is more advanced and already in AAA.
Ummm hello. I said the prospect that was mentioned from the Pirates is mediocre ! A 23 year old “prospect” pitching in AA and A ball last year isn’t a good prospect. Phillies already have marginal talent pitching in double A, thats not what they need.
You want to sign Franceour to a two year deal? Why? At best he’s a bench piece for a contender. For a rebuilding team, he’s worthless. Sub-.300 OBP, 89 OPS+. If you can get anything for him, do it.
Franceour isn’t a bad player for the phillies. If I can re-sign him to a year deal, I do it. You can’t just put a team of young kids on the field without someone being a veteran/leader. Frenchy would be cheap and who else you going to give a bench job to, a 19-20 year old ? Not happening. You don’t call up a young kid to make a bench player
“You can’t just put a team of young kids on the field without someone being a veteran/leader.”
Why not? The Phillies couldn’t get much worse right now. You don’t need veteran leadership to win 65 games like they’re on pace for. Francoeur is is potentially blocking a younger kid from getting MLB at bats and developing (I say ‘potentially’ because I don’t know anything about Phillies’ prospects). He’s totally useless to a rebuilding team.
Pirates are doing some dumpster-diving I see.
Revere is dumpster diving ? You dont know the game very well
Phillies should take Tabata and his contract along in a deal to augment the return. What other outfielder do they have besides Odubel Herrera? Asche isn’t an outfielder and Dom Brown is a AAAA player at best. Odubel should play center, Tabata in right and an Asche/Altherr platoon in left. Besides by taking on that contract in a Revere deal, we could probably get 2 AA top 20 guys or in a Francouer deal they can maybe get a piece with some promise like Aquino.
I’d be all for taking on Tabata’s contract if it meant getting back more in return. Take advantage of being a big market team that can spend money to basically buy prospects. Act like Atlanta when they got Touki for taking on Arroyo’s contract. Of course, I don’t expect another team to act as poorly as Arizona did there in giving up a prospect of Touki’s caliber. But if taking on Tabata increases the return, sign me up.
Asche isn’t a very good player ANYWHERE from what I see. He’s average at best. Dom Brown is useless and Altherr isn’t ready, Herrera is an unknown still who ya got left ? Thats why you dont trade Francoeur right now. Some people on here apparently think you can use 20 year old kids as bench players, and stunt there development. SMH
There are plenty of journeymen the Phillies can use to fill out their roster.
I love Frenchy, but if you can trade him for an okay prospect, you do it. You can bring him back in the offseason to keep a corner OF spot warm or replace him with a similar type of veteran very easily.
You are assuming Frenchy would resign with Philly.. After the decent for him year that he has put together a playoff caliber team might offer him the same contract the Phillies do.. Do you think he would resign with Philly because they gave him that unbelievable minor league contract this year?So you would rather pass on even a middling prospect and risk getting nothing in the offseason? SMH
Lol, Jose Tabata signed like a 25 million dollar deal for like 8 years. It’s not like that contract is some kind of burden. I don’t see how throwing him in augments anything pit might give up
Not sure on the Yankees/Jays/Cards version but the Pirates version wouldn’t be worth it since both Cespedes and Price are FA after this season. The Pirates wouldn’t give up those 2 for rentals even if the rental is a stud like Price or Cespedes.
Price for Taillon would be worth it for the Pirates. That would be a great rotation heading into the playoffs.
It’s already great. Since you don’t typically use your 4th starter, no point in adding a SP with just the though of playoff rotation, imo.
David Price rejected a trade to the Pirates last trade deadline. I dont want a player that doesn’t want to be here. Besides, Taillon is out for the season, so I don’t see the Tigers wanting him. And as for Polanco…forget about it
NO NO NO. Come on Pirates, set your sights a tad higher than these 2 retreads.
A power right handed bat, that can play a corner , outfield position would be just fine. Those 2 clowns offer none of those options.
Asivail Garcia, and Jeff S would be 2 guys i would be targeting, since the White Sox are clueless, and have no chance of making a playoff push.
Just rebuild again, Hagn and Williams, maybe with all the practice, someday you can get good at it.
Jeff S may cost a ton, but Garcia probably wouldn’t.
a 6th starter is not high on the list, IMO, for the Pirates, right now.
If the Pirates target anyone on the White Sox it should be LaRoche.. He is having the same problem Holliday had in the AL.. Bring him back to the National League so he can play the field like he wants and watch him establish himself quickly.. They can probably trade him even up for Alvarez.. Alvarez belongs in the dh role and could blossom himself once he finally gets there..
I think you might actually be selling Price and Cespedes kind of low to the Yankees and Blue Jays.. If Price is made available he would immediately become the best pitcher on the market and Cespedes is having a career year.. The addition of both of them would make the Yankees/Jays a world series favorite and the Tigers could then pretty much ask for the moon.. The return would probably be better from the Jays as Cashman has been rather stingy with prospects lately.. Cards would probably say no and I am pretty positive the Pirates would say no.. No idea on the Royals..