On Thursday night, per a tweet from the team, the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired INF Jason Rogers from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for OF Keon Broxton and SP Trey Supak.
Breaking: #Pirates have acquired INF Jason Rogers from the #Brewers in exchange for OF Keon Broxton & Trey Supak. pic.twitter.com/CIfuotP7Yl
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) December 18, 2015
The Pirates dipped into their deep pool of minor league talent to pull off this trade, and in exchange got a young infielder with power potential and the ability to play either corner infield spot. Rogers is 27 years old, but doesn’t have much major league experience. He only had one hit in nine total at-bats in 2014, but he got more playing time in 2015, putting up a .296/.367/.441 line along with four home runs and 16 RBIs. At 6’1″ and 255 lbs (per ESPN), Rogers seems like he has the potential to be a power bat. In terms of fielding, Rogers can play either corner infield or outfield spot, although he was used primarily as a first baseman with the Brewers. During his minor league career, Rogers hit .290/.372/.466 and he showed the ability to hit at every level, although not for much power. He did hit the majors at a late age, and was a late round draft pick (32nd round in 2010), but he hasn’t played like a late round draft pick to date. He’s also under team control until after the 2020 season.
In terms of what the Pirates gave up, Keon Broxton (25) was going to be used by the Pirates in a fourth outfielder-type role and in pinch-running situations if he made the active roster out of spring training. He’s only had two at-bats at the major league level, but he was a career .253/.333/.410 hitter in the minors, known mostly for his ability to steal bags. Broxton was acquired by the Pirates from the Diamondbacks back in March of 2014. Trey Supak is only 19 years old and hadn’t been with the Pirates for long after being drafted by the team in the Competitive Balance B round of the 2014 draft (73rd overall). Supak is a tall right-handed starting pitcher (6’5″, 210 lbs according to Milb.com) that fits the mold of the type of pitcher the Pirates’ organization likes to target in the draft. Supak had a career 5.85 ERA between the Gulf Coast League Pirates in 2014 and the Appalachian League Bristol Pirates in 2015, both at the Rookie level of the minors; however, those numbers came in just 14 total starts across two seasons. Supak was the Pirates’ 15th ranked prospect (according to MLB.com), while Broxton didn’t make the top 30.
On the surface, it’s difficult to fully analyze this move without having comments from Neal Huntington or Clint Hurdle about how the team plans to use Rogers. It looks like he will either be used as a starting option at first base if the team decides to part ways with Michael Morse or as a corner infield bat off the bench. He’s a righty like Morse, so the two wouldn’t be platooned. Ideally, Rogers is a good bench bat to have, considering the production he’s shown both at the minor league level and with the limited time he’s had in the majors. But if he’s a bench bat, the Pirates gave up two decent prospects for him, which may be an overpay. Obviously the Pirates have a deep farm system, but Supak has high upside and Broxton is a good fourth outfielder option to have. And the team already has Sean Rodriguez to fill the “utility infielder” role. If he’s a starting option, he should only be a placeholder until first base prospect Josh Bell arrives, and the team would have to flip or waive Morse, which would be hard to do considering he’s set to make $8 million next season.
This has been a puzzling offseason for the Pirates. They’ve dumped good players making decent money, and haven’t added much in the way of impact talent to the team. Jason Rogers is a good bench player to have, but isn’t an ideal starting first baseman; we’ll see what role he ends up being used in next season.
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