Pittsburgh Pirates: Three possible trade partners for Steven Brault
The Pittsburgh Pirates are already receiving trade interest in LHP Steven Brault. These three teams may be interested in trading for him.
In some unsurprising news out of Pittsburgh Pirates camp, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi recently reported that multiple teams have been in contact with the Pirates about trading for left-handed pitcher Steven Brault this winter.
As the Pirates look to build up their pipeline of talent down on the farm and focus on the future, the organization is expected to be busy fielding offers for some of their top major league talents like Brault, Joe Musgrove, and others.
As Morosi points out in his tweet, there are a few reasons why Brault is currently drawing so much interest, but perhaps no reason bigger than his three years of control remaining. Young arms with multiple years of control are always a hot commodity, and it doesn’t hurt that Brault is coming off his best stint in the major leagues since making his MLB debut in 2016 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 10 starts (11 total appearances), Brault went 1-3 with a career-low 3.38 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and .192 average against. He also struck out a career-high 21.3% oh hitters he faced and allowed just two home runs in 42 innings pitched, significantly slashing his home run rate from 2019 (1.19/9 IP).
Walks were still an issue for Brault (12.4% walk rate in 2020), but his improvements in most other areas of his game and ability to limit hard contact (average exit velocity on batted balls was about 3 mph lower than league average last season) are attractive traits when combined with his
If Brault’s 2020 campaign is a preview of what the future holds for the 28-year-old, just about every other team in baseball will be calling at some point to check in on him. But let’s look at three teams in particular who could be likely trade partners with Pittsburgh for Steven Brault.
The Boston Red Sox are likely one of those teams calling the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Wherever Steven Brault lands, he’s going to be looked to solidify the backend of a starting rotation, but his versatility and ability to work out of the bullpen will be a valuable asset to many teams.
The Boston Red Sox will be players for just about every pitcher on the market this offseason, but they were the very first team that popped up when thinking about potential landing spots for Steven Brault.
Boston isn’t expected to be big spenders in the free agent market and their ability to land some of the bigger names on the trade market are limited by their lackluster farm system, but they could still swing a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates for Brault.
Eduardo Rodriguez is expected to be ready to go when the 2021 season begins, but Chris Sale will not be. That leaves Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, and Tanner Houck to fill out the rest of the rotation.
Rounding out the rotation with Brault would give Boston a much improved starting rotation next season and give the Red Sox a long-relief option if Brault is forced out of the rotation with the return of a healthy Chris Sale.
Boston’s starting rotation ranked 30th in fWAR last season (0.4) and their bullpen ranked 27th (-0.6). Brault could help improve either of these units, stick around for a few years as Boston works their way back to the top of the AL East, and won’t cost the Red Sox too much to acquire.
The San Francisco Giants need pitching depth and the Pittsburgh Pirates have pieces to offer.
The San Francisco Giants just missed out on making the playoffs in last season’s expanded field and could very well find themselves back in the playoff hunt in 2021 with the return of Buster Posey set to provide a boost to the offense.
But the Giants have some holes when it comes to their starting rotation and bullpen. Kevin Gausman accepted his qualifying offer, giving the Giants a one-two punch of Gausman and Johnny Cueto at the top of the rotation, followed by a bunch of question marks.
They wanted to bring back Drew Smyly, but he recently signed a one-year/$11 million deal with Atlanta. As for possible free agent targets, the pickings are a bit slim and while they could very well bring in a Trevor Bauer or Masahiro Tanaka, it’s unlikely either finds their way to San Francisco.
The Giants could, however, fill out the backend of their rotation by making a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Brault, a California native, would provide San Francisco with a cheap rotation option while they spend a large chunk of their offseason cash on another starting pitcher, multiple bullpen pieces, and maybe a surprise bat to inject a bit more youth, power, and speed in their lineup.
The San Diego Padres are suddenly in need of multiple starting pitchers and have plenty of talent that could interest the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Targeting Trevor Bauer and ending up with Steven Brault seems like the most Los Angeles Angels move ever, but let’s look at another California team in the San Diego Padres.
The Padres are in need of starting pitching help with Mike Clevinger undergoing Tommy John surgery, Garrett Richards entering free agency, and Dinelson Lamet ending his season with some injury concerns that are hopefully nothing, but are still something to watch closely.
The Padres have plenty of talent the Pittsburgh Pirates could choose from if they were to trade Steven Brault to San Diego, including a long list of Rule 5-eligible guys the Padres may look to deal before Friday’s deadline to protect draft-eligible prospects.
Either way, the Pirates have an opportunity to add a spare Padres piece who would almost certainly slot fairly high on Pittsburgh’s top prospect list.
All of that minor league depth is paying off for general manager AJ Preller and will continue to serve him well this offseason as the Padres look to return to the playoffs in 2021 with a roster better prepared to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers for dominance in the NL West.
Steven Brault isn’t the arm to roll out behind a Dinelson Lamet and take on the NL West, but he would help fill out a rotation that suddenly needs many pieces.
Next. Five potential trades for Josh Bell. dark
The Pittsburgh Pirates are going to be busy this offseason trading away much of their major league talent and the early interest in Steven Brault is a good sign.