Over the weekend there was a rumor that connected the Pirates to Mitch Moreland of the Texas Rangers. Moreland is expected to make $5.6 M in his final year of arbitration, and would be a good upgrade for the Pirates at first base, providing defense and potentially following up strong on his 2.1 WAR season last year.
Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News says that the Pirates and Rangers are expected to meet today, with the Rangers looking to get a better feel for how serious the Pirates are about Moreland. Grant says that previous conversations had the Pirates looking for a three-way deal than something straight up. It’s impossible to say for sure why they could have been looking for such a trade, but the easy speculation would be that the Rangers are looking for something the Pirates don’t have. The Pirates have been comfortable trading prospects, so it’s possible the Rangers are looking for MLB talent instead.
Grant does mention Charlie Morton in his own speculation, although I’ll repeat that this was just speculation. It might point to the idea that the Rangers are looking for MLB talent though.
UPDATE 2:27 PM: Chris Cotillo has some updates that lead to the MLB-for-MLB theory:
Source: Rangers-Pirates talks for Moreland may not be likely to follow "veteran-for-prospects" model. Could be ML-for-ML model.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 7, 2015
Belief is that the Rangers would try to acquire back-end starters in a Moreland deal with Pittsburgh.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 7, 2015
That lines up with Grant’s earlier speculation about Morton. It would solve the Pirates’ needs at first base, but create another hole in the rotation, with just Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, and Jeff Locke in the mix. While there probably wouldn’t be a huge outcry for the loss of Morton, that would overlook the fact that he has performed like a strong number four starter, and would be a good option until the prospects arrived.
UPDATE 5:29 PM: TR Sullivan says that the Rangers are interested in Elias Diaz.
Rangers interested in Pirates young catcher Elias Diaz
— TR Sullivan (@Sullivan_Ranger) December 7, 2015
That would be a big overpay for Moreland, although this could be unrelated to Moreland, since the Rangers are looking for catching. It could also be as a part of a bigger deal if the teams try to combine all of the talks. Trading Diaz would only make sense if the Pirates were able to extend Francisco Cervelli, as Diaz is next in line to take over the starting catching duties when Cervelli becomes a free agent next year.
UPDATE 5:57 PM: Sullivan updates that the Pirates aren’t motivated to move Diaz.
Rangers like Pirates C Elias Diaz, strong defender, high ceiling offense. Pirates not motivated to move him
— TR Sullivan (@Sullivan_Ranger) December 7, 2015
