Pittsburgh Pirates: Final Rumors as Trade Deadline Approaches
By Matt Shetler
The 2012 Major League Baseball trade deadline is now only hours away and at least for now, the chances of the Pittsburgh Pirates acquiring a major bat don’t look promising.
That can all change between now and the 4:00 p.m. deadline on Tuesday, but I wouldn’t expect the Pirates to be involved in any major talks unless the market drops considerably.
That’s not the fault of the Pirates.
Believe me they would like to acquire a big bat to make a playoff run, but for one, there aren’t many impact bats on the market and secondly the hitters that are currently available have insanely high price tags at the moment. General manager Neal Huntington and company have done a fine job over the past few years rebuilding the franchise into the possible contenders they are right now. There’s no point on abandoning that strategy and including prospects such as Gerrit Cole, Starling Marte, Jameson Taillon, Josh Bell and others to acquire a rental player.
Again the market can and likely will change by the time the deadline comes and passes, but here’s where the Pirates currently stand.
Shane Victorino: It would be nice to add a Victorino at the top of the lineup, but that looks pretty doubtful at the moment as FOX Sports Ken Rosenthal reports the Pirates seem out of the running for the veteran outfielder.
Things can change quickly over next 31 hours, but #Pirates did not seem alive on Victorino as of late last night. #Phillies
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 30, 2012
In addition, the price tag on Victorino is one the Pirates don’t want any part of as Rob Biertempfel reports that the asking price on Victorino is “laughable.”
Shin-Soo Choo: I would love to get my hands on Choo, a guy that has a career .383 OBP and would look nice in an outfield with Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen. However the asking price on Choo is Marte and I don’t blame the Pirates for thinking that’s insane. If the price goes down on Choo though, I would hope the Pirates jump all over him.
Kevin Correia: After being moved to the bullpen, Correia requested a trade and I can’t blame him. However William DePaoli reports that Neal Huntington is looking for a nice haul for Correia that includes a quality bench player.
Reed Johnson: Speaking of bench players, Johnson would have been a nice upgrade but he was dealt to the Atlanta Braves in the middle of Monday night’s game against the Pirates. Bruce Levine reported that the Pirates were one of four teams to make an offer.
Brad Lincoln: It looks if the Pirates were to get a hitter like Chase Headley, Victorino or Choo, then Lincoln would have to be part of a deal and that’s something I, nor likely the Pirates would be comfortable doing.
Check back often tomorrow as City of Champions Sports will cover all of the dealings up until the deadline passes.