Pittsburgh Pirates Potential Trade Target Profile: Yangervis Solarte

The San Diego Padres once again find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture as the trade deadline approaches. Could a currently injured infielder be an option to help the Pittsburgh Pirates not only down the stretch in 2017, but in the future as well?

Yangervis Solarte is a name that many fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates may not be too familiar with, and a lot of that has to do with the distance from the fanbase to his home ballpark in San Diego.

Being an infielder for the Padres, there are not many opportunities to see him play, and half of those are going to start at 10pm on the East Coast. But seeing that the playoff hopes for the Padres are barely even on life support at this point, Solarte should generate a decent amount of interest across the league, even though he is currently injured.

Profile and Performance

Solarte made his MLB debut in 2014 with the New York Yankees before being shipped to San Diego as part of the return for Chase Headley about a week before the 2015 trade deadline.  A third baseman by trade, Solarte has also received a decent number of plate appearances at second base (462) and first base (125) in his career. He has played shortstop and left field as well, but the number of appearances at those positions is minimal and no one is going to acquire him to solely play either of those positions.

Solarte has shown decent power during his career, hitting at least 10 home runs in each of his first four seasons. He was well on his way to a career high in home runs this year as he was sitting on 10 at the time of his injury. He was also showing much better discipline at the plate this year as he had 28 walks to just 33 strikeouts before the oblique injury sidelined him. He was a 1.1 WAR player when he got hurt and almost assuredly was going to surpass his career mark of 2.8 he set in 2016.

Career-to-date stats

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Table courtesy of Baseball Reference

The case for Solarte

• Solarte would improve the Pittsburgh Pirates not only during this season, but at the very least in 2018 as well. He signed a two year contract extension in January of this year which has salaries of $2.5 million for this year and $4 million in 2018. The contract also has two team options attached to it with price tags of $5.5 million in 2019 and $8 million in 2020. Both of the option years have buyouts of $800,000. This contract will make him extremely appealing to the buyers at this year’s trade deadline.
• Because the status of Jung Ho Kang for next year is still up in the air, Solarte would add another strong infielder to the mix that can help make up for the potential loss of production if Kang’s career in the United States is indeed over. While they do have David Freese under contract for next year with an option for 2019, Solarte’s versatility would allow Clint Hurdle to have more options when it comes to constructing a lineup each date. He would also represent a younger option with more upside.

The case against Solarte

• Even if the Padres go into a seller’s mode in the next week, they may decide to hold on to Solarte given how talented he is and how friendly his contract is. It has been reported that the Padres are asking a lot for Brad Hand, so it is reasonable to think they are going to want a haul for Solarte. Whether they get overwhelmed with an offer and decide to move him remains to be seen, but it is hard to believe Neal Huntington is going to trade multiple prospects for Solarte or any player at the deadline.
• It was mentioned above that Solarte is currently on the shelf due to an oblique injury. Reports are that a rehab assignment will not even be considered until he can do baseball activities a few days in a row. With such a muddy timeline at this point, it is fair to assume that Solarte will not even head out on a rehab assignment until some time in mid August. His injury and yet-to-be started rehab assignment could scare teams off even more than his friendly contract could draw them to him.

What it might take

Solarte is not going to come cheap if the Padres do decide to move him. They know his talent and they know that his contract is going to be appealing to other clubs. He is not going to command a top five prospect in return, but at least one player in a team’s top 30 would definitely be on the table. Dealing from an organizational strength such as right handed pitching prospects could be an option of the Pirates and Padres were able to work out deal. Tyler Eppler, Yeudy Garcia or Clay Holmes could be used in a trade this year. Connor Joe, who will be blocked at first for the foreseeable future by Josh Bell and by the outstanding outfielders the team has, would also be an intriguing piece to dangle. It will likely take a package of prospects to get any deal done.

Conclusions

Solarte, a very appealing player on a bad team, would be a tremendous addition for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He would help the team during a potential playoff run this year and also add some insurance to the infield in the event Kang is not able to play here next season. However, everything about him makes him the type of player a team should rebuild around. He is young, talented and almost more importantly, team controlled for the next few seasons. Prying him away from the Padres is going to cost a team a lot in terms of prospects, and it typically is not Huntington’s M.O. to trade top prospects at the deadline. If the Padres do decide to move Solarte in the next week, it will most likely be another team that gives away prospects for him, not the Pittsburgh Pirates.