Report: Pirates Willing to Trade Two Surprising Names
The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't been bashful about their willingness to use their pitching depth to acquire proven hitting.
While trading some of their big-league pitching always felt like it was on the table, it always felt like Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller were off of table in any potential trade talks.
That appeared to only be partially true.
Andrew Destin and Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that both Keller and Jones were available in trade talks ahead of the Pirates trading right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz and left-handed pitching prospects Josh Hartle and Michael Kennedy to the Cleveland Guardians for infielder Spencer Horwitz. They also noted that if Keller were to be traded, it'd primarily be to add more payroll flexibility and to acquire another proven bat in a trade.
Keller is entering the second year of a five-year $77 million contract extension he signed in February of this year.
"The ultimate goal of trading Keller, per sources, would be to trim payroll while also upgrading other areas on the roster," Destin and Hiles writes. "Multiple sources said the club’s ideal return would be a young, quality major league bat. Keller’s departure would also create more financial flexibility for additional roster moves."
Keller, 28, went 11-12 with a 4.25 ERA over 31 starts and struck out 166 batters over his 178 innings pitched. There was a significant disparity between his first and second-half performance for a second straight season, as he went 10-5 with a 3.46 ERA in the first half then 1-7 with a 5.65 ERA after the All-Star break.
Jones being available in trade talks is much more of a shock given he just wrapped up his rookie season and flashed a plethora of promise over his 22 starts. He went 6-8 with a 4.14 ERA and struck out 132 batters over 121.2 innings pitched, though, an oblique injury cost him nearly two months of his season.
Hiles and Destin also noted that Pittsburgh's stance could change in the aftermath of the Ortiz trade. Still, the thought of Jones potentially being "very available" for trade is surprising to say the least.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington told the Post-Gazette that Pittsburgh could still trade some of its pitching to add more hitting, though, he'll be cognizant of not depleting his team of too much of its biggest strength to improve the offense.
"In theory,” Cherington told the Post-Gazette. “I mean, obviously, at some point, you got to be careful. We want to maintain that as a strength and you go too far, you start to dig into it too much and all the sudden, you can get yourself in trouble."
Jones and Keller's availability could speak to the Pirates' confidence in their trio of top-100 prospects, right-handed pitchers Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, and Thomas Harrington. Still, trading either Jones or Keller to bank on any of the three prospects would be risky heading into an imperative 2025 season for the Pirates' front office and coaching staff.
And if the Pirates do eventually decide to move one of Jones or Keller, doing so without netting a proven bat would be a significant letdown.
