The Pirates and Yankees have discussed a swap involving Yankees righty Nathan Eovaldi, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. The Bucs are currently seeking stability in their rotation after watching Jon Niese and Jeff Locke struggle this year. They recently sent Niese to the bullpen.
Eovaldi, too, has had his troubles this year, with a 5.11 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 to go with 19 home runs allowed in 98 2/3 innings. But the Pirates, whose 2013-2015 playoff runs were built in large part upon their ability to fix other organizations’ struggling pitchers (including former Yankees starter A.J. Burnett), might see promise in Eovaldi, given his high-90s fastball and good ground ball rate (50.7% this season). He also is controllable through 2017, potentially giving the Pirates a longer-term rotation fix. The Yankees recently moved Eovaldi to the bullpen, although he is scheduled to return to the rotation Tuesday.
The Pirates were briefly connected to Eovaldi when he was with the Marlins, with MLB.com’s Tom Singer tweeting at the time that there were discussions between the two teams. Bucs president Frank Coonelly said shortly thereafter that the Pirates hadn’t come close to acquiring Eovaldi, however.
The Yankees are currently 44-45 and on the fringes of the Wild Card race, although dealing Eovaldi might be seen less as part of an overall selling strategy and more as an effort to move a veteran who has been ineffective. Biertempfel points out that the Pirates have several ready or nearly-ready young starting pitchers to trade, including Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault and Trevor Williams.
Trade a guy that can throw strikes and is still young? Makes no sense. They should trade Pineda over Nathan.
Pineda BB/9: 2.42 K/9: 10.67
Eovaldi BB/9: 2.92 K/9: 7.39
Pineda walks less batters and strikes out more.
And younger, too.
He just needs more pine tar on his neck
Eh. Pineda has such good swing and miss stuff that you hope he puts it together eventually. I feel like they be selling low on him. As hard as eovaldi throws, he can’t hit his spots, and MLB players will hit 100 at middle middle all day.
He’s not very good and they need to start some sort of rebuild.
Could care less about strikeouts or that he’s allowed 5 more walks compared to Pineda. I care about a guy that’s allowed half a run less in nearly the same amount of innings pitched as the other and has adapted better to pitching in the AL East compared to Pineda.
And which one is more sustainable?
That’s why you have things like K, BB, and HR rates which are more sustainable for pitchers than run prevention and narratives of where a pitcher plays
sorry cavs but can’t agree with you on this one. eovaldi I think could develop but right now he is a two pitch pitcher who’s second pitch isn’t that affective and who’s fastball is straight as an arrow. guys tee off on that. ignoring peripherals like k and bb per 9 is just nuts. by your logic Steven wright is better than David price
If you think Evo is any good you aren’t paying attention. The first sign shoulda been when Miami was willing to trade him. The Marlins aren’t in the business of giving away young arms they have under control. The guy refuses to develop a 2nd pitch. Anyone on a MLB roster can hit a 100mph fastball. Turn him into something, move on.
Thats false.
They dealt heaney in the gordon trade, a pitcher for latos in desclafani, just traded an interesting arm in paddack for rodney, and im sure theres more.
He has developed a splitter. The problem is that he hangs it so often that it hurts him more than it helps.
Earlier this year on MLB Network Smoltz was talking about Eovaldi’s struggles and commented that Eovoldi had a low spin rate on his pitches. So compared to other guys that throw 95-97 Eovaldi’s pitches were relatively flat. He also mentioned that Eovaldi could do a better job hiding the ball in the early part of his delivery. So despite how hard he throws his pitches are relatively flat and easy for hitters to pick up. There was even a piece on FanGraphs about lower spin rates of Yankee pitchers. You’d think that the Yankees would pick up on that.
I’m sure they know that, but how easy is that to fix? Maybe the player can’t make the adjustment, which might be a reason they are trying to move him/giving up on him.
the pirates have had success getting yankees in recent years. AJ Burnett and Fransisco Cervelli come to mind. Hell, remember Doug Drabek?
It amazes me that so many are pushing Locke out the door when he has been the best pitcher not named Cole in the pirates rotation. Yeah not a top rotation guy or anything but solid back end young and controllable, on his way out next season but still. I’m more inclined to try to free up Liriano’s Salary than Locke’s.
While I don’t think Nathan is a good fit for the bucs and won’t improve the team much if at all this season they have picked up struggling pitchers midseason in the past and got them to do well. (happ for a recent example)
If they could basically salary swap Nathan and Niese with maybe some cash changing hands..then okay but no prospects should be involved ether way.
I agree. keep locke
As a Cub fan this would be terrible to see the Pirates land Eovaldi, yeah the numbers don’t look great but his stuff can be absolutely electric. Rotation of Cole/Eovaldi/Tallion/Glasnow/Liriano could rival the Mets in my opinion with Glasnow becoming the Ace of the staff.
You’re an idiot
That’s a bit of a stretch – admittedly, I’m a bit biased. But I think that the Mets have more long-term value in their arms right now.
Not with 3/5 of their rotation hurt…
Next season when Glasnow, Taillon, Kuhl and Brault probably join Cole in the rotation.. i’d say there is a good chance that the Pirates rotation is one of the best in the MLB. Of course one or more of them could flop too :-/
I’ll eat my hat if they trade Kuhl, Brault, or Williams for Eovaldi.
This.
The Pirates like to kick the tires of hard throwing pitchers. But it makes no sense to trade ML-ready pitchers for a struggling one. Kuhl, for instance, can push his sinker to 98 mph. Why trade him for Evoldi?
I agree.
Honestly, eovaldi I for Niese and Locke straight up might be fair
For who? That’s a terrible deal.
Could give them all a change of scenery.
Maybe Red Sox could trade Buchholz to Pirates for pitching prospect.
yeah this is horrible. Locke is a decent back end starter that is cheaper than Nathan
Best I would do would be Niese + $1-2M for Nathan. Maybe Liriano and a million or two for nathan and long shot fringe prospect.
I don’t disagree a change of scenery could benefit both players
Wow. That trade when the Yankees sent Phelps and Prado to the Marlins for Eolvaldi was a disaster and this is the proof in the pudding. Prado would have been a much better option at second base than Castro. And they’d still have Adam Warren for their pen, not that he has been that great in Chicago. But I always hated this move for the Yankees. Imagine if they’d just signed Jordan Zimmermann or Johnny Cueto or Jeff Samardzija. Cashman has really screwed this team.
Cash mans overrated by management. They need bigger changes
I don’t think Evo is as great as he was, but the Buccos have 180’d many SPs and proved they are able to with good coaching. I trust their scouts and Pitching coaches judgment. I’m surprised they targeted him but their track record is solid
From my interpretation of his peripherals, the main drag on Eovaldi’s numbers has been the massive spike in his HR rate – pitching at PNC might moderate that a bit, although his road numbers are hardly pretty this season as well. Perhaps he could be another reclamation project for the Pirates – having their defense behind him would also help, and he has been a guy who has generally outperformed his ERA in terms of FIP and xFIP.
Of course, the Pirates also really need a dependable arm, so I wouldn’t say that Eovaldi is exactly a great replacement for Niese THIS season.
Jake Odorizzi is a much, much better fit in Pittsburgh. If they get Eovaldi, it better not be for much more than an A-ball or AA-ball lottery ticket. Eovaldi is a thrower, not a pitcher.
I’d judge the trade by the return, but handing over Eovaldi, who is young and throws hard, to Pittsburgh so he can become a high quality starter, while getting a handful of beans in return…..not so much.
The only way this trade would make sense for the Pirates is if they have a separate deal in place to trade Liriano or Locke.
Cole, Taillon, Glasnow, Eovaldi, Lefty whose last name starts with L.
And the only way that would make sense is if some other team overpaid and why would they?
Just dump Niese. Dangle Liriano to see if anyone offers a decent prospect.
Bring up the young pitchers and let them have their growing pains now to set up the future like the Cubs did with their position players.