General Manager Neal Huntington has discussed addressing the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen on the trade market. Could a scuffling reliever for the Blue Jays be an option?
It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen, once a pillar of strength for the club, has had it’s fair share of struggles this season. The relievers as a group will bring an ERA of 4.33 into Monday’s makeup game against the Colorado Rockies, and outside of Mark Melancon and Tony Watson, no one has an ERA under three. As Mark Polishuk at MLB Trade Rumors noted in his recent post about the Pirates, Huntington has acknowledged that the club will be on the look out for bullpen help in the coming months, but that the pickings across the league might be slim.
Yesterday our friends over at Jays from the Couch detailed how the Toronto Blue Jays are shopping reliever Drew Storen. Storen spent 2010-2015 with the Washington Nationals before signing a one year deal with Toronto for the 2016 season. To say that the Blue Jays have not received the return on investment they were expecting is an understatement. In the six seasons with Washington, Storen compiled a 3.02 ERA in 334 innings of work to go along with 95 saves. So far this season, Storen has amassed an ugly 7.80 ERA and just two saves. Granted this has all happened in 15 innings of work, but giving up 13 earned runs in 15 innings is a recipe for disaster, whether the pitcher in question is a starter or a reliever.
So would Storen be a good fit to join the Shark Tank? To me, there are a few factors in play that make this a no go. First off, the righty Storen would have to replace a pitcher of the same handedness, since the team only carries two lefties. Melancon isn’t going anywhere and both Jared Hughes and Neftali Feliz have pitched well enough so far this season.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Storen spent 2010-2015 with the Washington Nationals before signing a one year deal with Toronto for the 2016 season[/pullquote]The team most likely will not part with Ryan Vogelsong due to the amount of guaranteed money he is receiving, and he also gives Clint Hurdle an emergency option as a starter, which he’ll function as today during the makeup game against the Rockies. While Arquimedes Caminero has been shaky this season, he fits the mold of what the Pirates look for in a reliever: someone who can hit triple digits on the radar gun. Add in that he is under team control until 2021, and it’s hard to imagine the team will part with him.
The main roadblock to a deal for Storen, for any team, is his contract. Storen is set to make $8.4 million this year. That is a lot of money for a pitcher who, especially for a team like the Pirates, would pitch in the seventh or eighth inning. In any deal involving Storen, the Blue Jays will need to cover most or all of the rest of his contract if they want anything resembling a decent return for the reliever. No team is going to part with a major piece from their organization for pitcher that has been struggling at this level.
It’s hard to see a deal for Storen coming together, given the Pittsburgh Pirates have a number of right handed relievers that are doing well and his contract is more than what they would be comfortable paying a middle reliever, especially one that is struggling so much in 2016. The season is still young, so the Pirates will have plenty of other opportunities to strengthen their bullpen, either through other players who are made available by their teams or internal options that could be called up from Indianapolis.
Featured Image Credit – Cathy T – Flickr Commercial License
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
