The acquisition of starter Jon Niese has not gone as expected for the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the 29-year-old struggling, Pittsburgh is reportedly looking to trade the veteran left-hander.
When the Pirates dealt longtime second baseman Neil Walker to the Mets for a proven innings-eater in Jon Niese, the club thought they were adding more depth to their starting rotation, but Niese has been a major disappointment thus far.
With that, the Pirates are exploring opportunities to trade the veteran starter, according to Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The report further states that the Pirates have reached out to “a number of clubs” in recent days and that teams are likely to send scouts to watch Niese pitch on Sunday.
Obviously we know why the Pirates are being so proactive to get rid of Niese, as getting at least some of his salary off the team’s books will allow them to be more aggressive this trade deadline. Also, with the recent debuts of Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow, it looks like the Pirates would like to go younger with their pitching staff. But why would any team be interested in acquiring Niese’s services?
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First, is that the Pirates would probably be willing to throw in some money to make the 29-year-old less expensive. They are probably going to have to if they want to strike a deal, because his about $4.5 million salary for the rest this season is a poor value with the struggles he has endured so far.
There are also many contending teams that are looking for starting pitching options any way they can get them. The Orioles, Red Sox, Tigers, Marlins and even his former team the Mets could be intrigued in the idea of bringing a veteran like Niese in, especially with the multitude of injuries occurring in New York’s starting rotation.
Niese also has a track record of being at least an average starting pitcher in the major leagues. In 2015, Niese pitched to an ERA of 4.13, and finished the three seasons prior to that with earned run averages in the 3.00s. His strikeout numbers have been decreasing over the past couple seasons, which is not encouraging, and he is walking three batters per nine innings as well. He does not have dominant stuff as he is throwing his fastball in the high-80s, but he never had great stuff even when he was performing well for the Mets. But with that, Niese could be a better alternative then trotting out an unproven minor league pitcher.
This would be a buy-low deal as a team would not be expected to trade away anything of value for the Pirates starter. Pittsburgh is solely trying to make this trade to clear some space to make future additions as the trade deadline nears.
Niese will be a free agent after this season, but he does have two clubs options for the next two seasons at $10 million and $11 million, respectively. While a team is very likely to let him walk this coming offseason, there is still some flexibility with his contract.
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Pittsburgh will probably find a taker that will see Niese as a good buy-low candidate as teams look to keep their rotations afloat. However, don’t expect that trading for the nine-year veteran will provide much more than an occasional spot start or long relief appearance with the way he has fallen off in 2016.
What do you think about a possible Niese trade? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.