MLB Trade Deadline Shockers: Could Jarren Duran, Mitch Keller, and Eugenio Suarez Become the Game-Changers?
What’s in it for the Pirates, who, once again, find themselves well out of contention at deadline time? A regime change seems impending in Pittsburgh, with GM Ben Cherrington on the hot seat. But with Paul Skenes around, it probably doesn’t make sense to completely pull the plug. And so it would behoove the Pirates to focus on high-level, relatively advanced prospects in a deal for controllable players such as Keller and Hayes.
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The Yankees have a number of interesting pieces in the upper minors. Shortstop George Lombard Jr., a consensus top-50 prospect ranked in the top 10 by some outlets, might be off limits, but the Buccos should certainly ask. Spencer Jones is a fascinating player, a true boom-or-bust type in the Joey Gallo mode. The lefty slugger has outrageous power and a swing that looks like a mirror image of Aaron Judge’s. He also has a gargantuan strikeout problem that makes his big-league floor subterranean. But for the Pirates, a team trapped in a hamster wheel of blah, that feels like a risk worth taking. If they can get Jones, a few other interesting, albeit lower-ranked dudes (I like high-energy infielder Roc Riggio, who is raking in Double-A), and one of Schlittler or Warren from the Yankees, they should part with Hayes and Keller.
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