Ken Rosenthal just tweeted that the Pittsburgh Pirates are working on a deal that is believed to be for a reliever. It obviously leaves a lot of possibilities, but check back for any updates because it looks like the Pirates aren’t waiting for the trading deadline to get deals done. The Aramis Ramirez deal might just be the first of many moves.
Sources: #Pirates working on another trade. Believed to be for a reliever.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 24, 2015
UPDATE Friday 2:12 PM: Rosenthal has an update, saying that nothing is close, but that the Pirates have multiple options in play.
Reported last night that #Pirates were working on another deal. Like most clubs, they’ve got multiple options in play. Told nothing close.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 24, 2015
The first tweet made it sound like the Pirates were close to making another deal, this time for a reliever. This update kind of just sounds like your normal work during the trade deadline of having multiple discussions, but no actual trade in the works. That said, I’d be surprised if the Pirates were done after adding Aramis Ramirez. They seem to be aggressive early this year, so I wouldn’t be shocked if they make another early trade. We’ll see how it all plays out from here. – Tim
UPDATE 6:09 PM: Joe Frisaro of MLB.com had the following on a trade today where the Cardinals acquired Steve Cishek from the Marlins.
Along w/ #Dodgers the #Pirates also make pitch for Cishek. #Marlins decided to pull trigger w/ #STLCards
— Joe Frisaro (@JoeFrisaro) July 24, 2015
Frisaro, who covers the Marlins, says that the Pirates were in on Cishek. Just going on what we know, it would seem that this was the reliever the Pirates were pursuing last night. Cishek was traded shortly after Rosenthal’s update today, which had a much different tone. So it seems that the Pirates were going after Cishek, didn’t end up getting him, and will now turn to their other options. I guess you could expect them to add a reliever in the next week.