The Pittsburgh Pirates are having a weird year. Not bad, but weird for them. They’re 38-37, sitting one game back of the final NL wild card spot, and they’re actually considering being buyers at the trade deadline instead of sellers. And the tool they might use to get a deal done? A draft pick.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Pirates hold the 34th overall pick in July’s MLB Draft, which is a competitive-balance pick. Those are the only draft picks that can be traded. And rival clubs say Pittsburgh is open to moving it.
Competitive-balance picks are valuable beyond just the player you’d get. Whichever team acquires one also gets the bonus pool money attached to that slot, which can be used to sign other draft picks later. So for a contender looking to reload its farm system while making a push, this kind of pick is a nice piece of currency.
What the Pirates actually need
The Pirates offense has been legit. They rank third in the league in batting average and on-base percentage, fifth in runs scored, 10th in slugging. For a team that’s spent years at the bottom of those categories, that’s real progress.
But the pitching is the problem. Their team ERA sits 18th in MLB. They’ve struggled to keep runners off base consistently. The rotation could use another reliable arm, and the bullpen is thin enough that one or two injuries could sink them. A solid starter or a high-leverage reliever would make sense as a target.
The timing makes this interesting
The Pirates are 8.5 games back of the Brewers in the NL Central, so a division title probably isn’t happening. But the wild card race is wide open. They’re one game out as of this writing and they’ve played well against divisional opponents, which helps down the stretch.
In past years, by this point the Pirates were already fielding calls on rental players and looking toward next season. This is new territory for general manager Ben Cherington and his front office. Being in the mix in late June means decisions have to be made about whether to push chips in or stay the course.
Nobody’s expecting the Pirates to go all-in and empty the farm. But dangling a draft pick they can’t use the same way in any other sport? That’s a creative angle that might actually work. If they can flip No. 34 for an arm that stabilizes the staff for two months, it’s hard to argue against it.
The deadline is still a few weeks out. The Pirates have time to see if they’re real contenders or if this hot stretch fades. Either way, they’ve got a trade chip most teams don’t, and they’re not afraid to use it.
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