What players could the Pittsburgh Pirates send to New York For Ivan Nova?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have to send two players to the New York Yankees to complete the Ivan Nova trade. Who could those players be?

This year’s non waiver trade deadline was somewhat confusing for the fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates. While the team did trade Mark Melancon, due to be a free agent at season’s end for two players, they also traded Francisco Liriano and all of his salary along with Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez for Drew Hutchison. These deals were done to strengthen the team in the coming years and offer some financial flexibility, to use one of Neal Huntington’s favorite phrases. The Jon Niese for Antonio Bastardo trade sent each player back to their 2015 team with the hope that they would regain the success they had last year.

But the one trade that still isn’t finalized is the deal that brought Ivan Nova to Pittsburgh for two players to be named later. Now, the Yankees have some time, six months to be precise, to pick the two players from the list that the Pirates will give them. So what can we do until the players to be named later are actually named? Speculate, that’s what!

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Agrazal is a little further away than Eppler, but both could be in play to complete this trade.[/perfectpullquote]

Not a top tier prospect

Since the Pirates traded away two top ten prospects in the Toronto and are only guaranteed two months of service from Nova, I think it’s safe to say that the top tier prospects are safe. There is no way they are giving up someone like Austin Meadows, Josh Bell, Kevin Newman or Mitch Keller for essentially eight weeks of Nova, who is a back end of the rotation option at best. So let’s just assume that the players that now make up the top ten prospects for the Pirates are protected.

The Yankees did very well at the trade deadline and now sport one of, if not the top farm system in baseball. Their top five prospects are all position players and their top ten only features three pitchers, two of which are right handed. So I could see them taking a left handed pitcher like Brandon Waddell or Stephen Tarpley as one of their choices, if they are indeed on the list given to the Yankees. Both of these players are far along enough in their development that they could help the Yankees as early as next year.

If there are any right handed pitchers on the list, it could be someone like Tyler Eppler or Dario Agrazal, two players that are in 25-30 range of the Pirates’ top prospects. Agrazal is a little further away than Eppler, but both could be in play to complete this trade. The Pirates have four young right handers projected for the rotation next year, so the loss of someone like Eppler would not be a huge blow.

Could it be a position player?

Perhaps the Yankees are going to take a position player with one of their choices. If they do, I could see someone like Max Moroff being part of the deal. He plays second base and with Adam Frazier getting playing time at that position with the big club, his usefulness to the Pirates is limited. Alen Hanson is another player who could be considered, but I would be disappointed to see the Pirates part with him.

There are a few players that I really hope are not on the list that has been submitted to the Yankees. Tito Polo comes in near the end of Pittsburgh’s top 30 list and has been putting together a very nice year, making stops at two different levels of the minor league system. Another player who I hope isn’t on the list if Dovydas Neverauskas, who would be the first Lithuanian born person to make to the the majors. He appeared in the 2016 Futures Game, so he has been exposed to a national audience, albeit in limited capacity.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Perhaps the Yankees are going to take a position player with one of their choices. If they do, I could see someone like Max Moroff being part of the deal.[/perfectpullquote]

So there you go, my wild speculation on who the players will be that make their way to New York. My guess that it will be two of Tarpley, Waddell, Eppler, Agrazal, Moroff or Hanson. The Pirates are only getting two months of Nova’s service before he hits free agency, so the Pirates should not be parting with any top prospects. What young players do you think will be heading to New York? Let us know in the comments.

Photo Credit – Daniel Decker Photography