When the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired pitchers Chris Archer and Keone Kela at the non-waiver trade deadline, they were still a longshot to make the playoffs this season, even after an 11-game win streak got them back into contention.
Those moves were made more to solidify the starting rotation and bullpen for the next couple of years as they were to get the Pirates into the postseason this year.
If that happened then great, but that wasn’t the main motivation for making those trades.
A disappointing 4-5 road trip that started with the Pirates taking two of three against the Colorado Rockies, finished with a spot start from Clay Holmes; the Pirates defense throwing away a win Sunday against the Giants; and 12 men were left on base Wednesday as the Bucs were swept by the Minnesota Twins.
Those were games the Pirates needed to win and as a result the Bucs head home to start a seven-game homestand against the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves sitting six games back of the second wild card and nine games back of the Cubs in the National League Central.
That being said, is it time for Neal Huntington to wave the white flag and start dealing his veterans before the end of the month?
That answer is yes, but let’s be real here. The return on them won’t be great but trading the likes of Jordy Mercer, Josh Harrison, Francisco Cervelli and David Freese will help in other areas.
Short of another 11 or 12 game win streak, the Pirates aren’t making up six games in the wild card race with just a month and a half left to play. Throw in the fact that they have to leapfrog four teams and it is something that’s just not likely to happen.
That being said, Huntington should look to shop what he has left in the cupboard.
It won’t be easy though.
Trading in August is tough
Huntington will have a couple of obstacles if he’s looking to move anyone.
First, other teams have to want your players and the group of Mercer, Harrison, Cervelli and Freese isn’t exactly appealing.
Secondly, they would have to sneak through waivers.
Other teams can put claims in on players to stop a deal, but this really shouldn’t be too much of an issue as anyone the Pirates would look to trade at this point wouldn’t be much of a game changer in terms of impacting the playoff race.
Why Deal at all?
Let’s take a look at what Huntington would have to deal.
Mercer
Mercer becomes a free agent at the end of the season so in theory it makes sense to deal him by the end of the month.
The problem is none of the contenders for a postseason spot need a shortstop, especially one with an average bat and below average range.
Even if someone needed a middle infielder coming off the bench, Huntington wouldn’t get much in return, which is fine.
The important part of dealing Mercer is it would potentially get Kevin Newman some MLB experience down the stretch, which could prove to be big for next season.
That could still happen in September though as even though Mercer likely stays, the Pirates would be wise to start the transition for next season.
Harrison
While Harrison has been lousy for most of the season, posting a 0.1 WAR, he likely is the guy that would make the most sense to deal.
Huntington won’t get much, but there may be teams willing to give up a decent prospect to add Harrison to their bench.
Again, like the case with Mercer, it would open up a spot for Kevin Kramer to get some MLB experience down the stretch, which could prove to be important.
Cervelli
Cervelli is having a decent season at the plate, putting up an .843 OPS.
The problem is he can’t stay healthy and the re-occurring concussions is scary.
That makes it unlikely he’s going to be a catcher for too much longer. That alone gives him no trade value.
He doesn’t hit enough for teams to covet him as a first or third baseman.
It would be nice to move his $11.5 million salary for next year as he shouldn’t be the everyday catcher and that’s too much money to pay a light hitting backup corner infielder.
If someone would take Cervelli off the Pirates hands, it would be for next to no return, but getting his salary off the books would be a bonus.
Freese
Freese has had an interesting season to say the least.
He went from a guy that many people were wondering why he was taking up a roster spot to one of the most valuable Pirates hitters down the stretch.
Freese has a $6 million option for next season and as our Josh Carney looked at yesterday, makes sense for the club to pick up.
You could do a hell of a lot worse than Freese as a veteran backup corner infielder.
The Cervelli situation complicates things a bit more as if he needs to transition away from the plate, you can’t both keep him and Freese.
Freese is a player almost every contender would at least consider coming off their bench in September so it would make sense to dangle him out there.
Verdict
If Huntington hasn’t put his veterans on waivers yet, I would expect him to do so in the upcoming days.
Anything short of taking five of seven from the Cubs and Braves and it’s going to be all she wrote on the Pirates season.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
This team is still sitting over .500 and not many people gave them a chance to be where they are right now.
There are some good pieces in place for the next couple of years so dealing some veterans who won’t be a part of that core makes sense.
At the end of the day I think that’s what Huntington wants to do, but he will have a hard time doing it.
He may be able to deal one guy, maybe a Freese or Harrison, but’s that’s probably it.
It won’t hurt to try though.
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