Last night, while writing about Elias Diaz and why he wouldn’t be a good trade chip this year, I started thinking about the trade deadline. It’s a bit early for that kind of thinking, since we’re two and a half months away from the deadline. But I couldn’t help thinking that the Pirates might not have any needs at all this year.
That sounds strange to say, considering the team has some obvious needs right now with their pitching staff. But they’ve got a few top prospects in Indianapolis who should come up and help the rotation in the next few months, which will hopefully eliminate the need to add a starting pitcher.
The bullpen is an area where they need upgrades, but I think that might also be solved when the prospects come up. Once the new starters come in, guys from the rotation can shift to the bullpen, where their stuff might play up. Specifically, Juan Nicasio could be a huge addition for the bullpen, as he has looked like a guy who would be better suited in that role.
Between Mark Melancon, Tony Watson, Neftali Feliz, and Nicasio, you’d have a strong late inning group. You’d hope that one of Jared Hughes or Arquimedes Caminero came around by then, or that one of the other former starters stepped up in a relief role. There might even be some prospects who could help out in the bullpen, such as Trevor Williams or Steven Brault, since they would be further down on the starting depth chart than guys like Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, and Chad Kuhl.
The lineup looks great right now, and the bench is also strong. Last year the Pirates made a few moves to strengthen the bench, but with the way Matt Joyce, David Freese, and Sean Rodriguez have been playing, I don’t think that will be necessary. If they want bench help, they could always call up Josh Bell down the stretch, and ease him into the majors in a bench role, before giving him the starting first base role next year.
Anything can happen in the next two months, and this all might look totally different by then. Even if this all forecasts the same, I could see the Pirates going after at least an extra bullpen arm, since you can never have too much pitching. But I’d be surprised if they made a big splash at the deadline this year. With the prospects they have about to take over, they really don’t need to make that splash.
There are a lot of prospects who are either blocked, or look like excess right now throughout the minors. The initial reaction is that they would be trade bait. But you have to stop and think about what those guys would even be traded for, and that’s when you realize that there really aren’t many projected needs after the prospects take over.
**One thing I was thinking about after the Cervelli extension was that we might be done with the Super Two mess after this year. I’m not talking about the possibility of MLB getting rid of Super Two (which would actually be a big concession for the players, since they’d be giving up money by getting rid of it). I’m talking about the Pirates having a team where no one even cares about Super Two.
Think about what you’re seeing this year. The Super Two arguments surround Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon. No one is lumping Josh Bell in with those arguments. Why? Because the Pirates have a need for pitching in the majors, and John Jaso is doing well at first base. So there’s more of a need to rush the pitchers up to the majors, and it’s more acceptable to let Bell work on developing his game a bit longer, even to an extreme extent where he doesn’t even come up this year.
After this year, you’d hope that the Pirates wouldn’t have any needs for a few years. As I’ve noted a few times over the past few weeks, they’re set up so that their prospects can arrive before the current starters are set to leave as free agents. That puts them in line for a lot of Josh Bell situations in the future, where they can ease the prospects into the majors in the second half, and give them a starting job the following year. And because of that, we can talk about something else this time of year, like craft beer, or the latest Marvel movie, or something much more preferred than discussing Super Two.
**Pirates Prospects Adds Two New Minor League Writers. Meet two of our newest writers, as our minor league coverage continues to get stronger.
**JT Brubaker’s Mechanics Are Cause For His Recent Struggles in West Virginia. One of our newest writers, Abigail Miskowiec, writes about the recent struggles for 2015 6th round pick JT Brubaker, who is our #30 prospect in the system.
**David Todd Podcast: Live Reports From Indianapolis. A few live reports and thoughts from Indianapolis in this week’s radio segment with David Todd.
**Prospect Watch: Austin Coley Throws Seven Shutout Innings, Heredia Continues Success. Tonight’s Prospect Watch features a live Indianapolis report from our new writer, Brian Peloza.
**Morning Report: My Favorite Team to Cover Over the Years. John Dreker takes a look at some of his favorite minor league teams to cover over the years.
