Latest On Pirates’ Deadline Plans

The Pirates are 22-37 to this point in the season, leaving them with the second-worst record in the National League ahead of only the lowly Rockies. They’re already 11.5 games back of a Wild Card spot and 14.5 games behind the Cubs in the race for the NL Central crown. It’s hard to imagine them turning things around quickly enough to avoid being sellers at this year’s trade deadline. That led to plenty of buzz on social media speculating about the possibility of Pittsburgh brass listening to offers on star right-hander Paul Skenes, but reporting has unequivocally dismissed that notion.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale confirmed this morning that the Pirates are “flatly rebuking” interest from rival clubs in Skenes and fellow young star Oneil Cruz, but he did report that the front office will at least listen to offers on the rest of their roster. It’s a sensible stance for the club to take. After all, Skenes and Cruz are both exciting young players with superstar potential and plenty of team control remaining: Cruz is controlled for three seasons after this one, while Skenes is controlled for four. With the rest of the club’s most prized players either out for the season (Jared Jones) or still in the minor leagues (Bubba Chandler), listening on the rest of the roster throughout the summer could allow the Pirates to best position themselves to improve for 2026 and beyond.

It should be noted that just because the organization is willing to listen on a player does not mean a deal coming together should be expected. The Pirates have plenty of other assets that are both intriguing and under longer-term control that they would surely be hesitant to part with for anything less than an impressive return. Right-hander Mitch Keller and lefty Bailey Falter are both controlled through the end of the 2028 season (the same length of time as Cruz) and have emerged as affordable and reliable rotation pieces in recent years. That sort of talent is difficult to part with, even for a club as deep in exciting pitching talent as the Pirates.

Speculatively speaking, it’s not hard to imagine the Pirates only being willing to part with those pieces if they were able to receive a similarly-talented player with a comparable team control who better fits the club’s needs in return, as was the case when they swapped Luis Ortiz to the Guardians for Spencer Horwitz this past winter. Much more likely to be moved on the pitching side of things are shorter-term pieces like Andrew Heaney, Caleb Ferguson, and David Bednar. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently discussed the Pirates’ pitching staff in a piece for Front Office subscribers that provides a more detailed look at the players Pittsburgh could consider moving.

On the hitting side of things, Nightengale specifically floats two names as possible trade chips: outfielder Bryan Reynolds and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. Both are under long-term team control after previously signing eight-year extensions with the team: Reynolds is in the third year of a deal that runs through 2030 with a club option for 2031, while Hayes is in the fourth year of a deal that runs through 2029 with a club option for 2030. Perhaps that would make them seem likely to be off-limits for a team that surely hopes to contend while Cruz and Skenes are still in town, but it’s not hard to see why the Pirates may be more willing to part with them.

Both are owed significant guaranteed money—no small factor for an organization with Pittsburgh’s payroll constraints—and neither has quite lived up to the expectations placed on them when their deals were signed. Hayes is an elite defender at the hot corner and has shown the ability to be a three-win player with even average offense in the past, but he’s been dogged by injuries throughout his career and is hitting just .229/.283/.285 (58 wRC+) over the past two years. Reynolds is already in his age-30 campaign, is a poor defender restricted to the outfield corners, and has hit just .264/.332/.442 (109 wRC+) over the past three seasons. He’s even been below average (87 wRC+) this year, and while his expected numbers remain strong it would be understandable for the Pirates to move on if they received a return they were satisfied with.

Even as the Pirates are likely willing to listen to offers on both players, however, there are plenty of obstacles to trading either one. Hayes will still be owed $36MM (including a $6MM buyout on the 2030 club option) after 2025, and while that’s hardly an exorbitant sum it’s difficult to justify taking on that expense and surrendering a meaningful return for a player who hasn’t been more than replacement level since 2023. Reynolds is a more productive player, but he’s owed more than $77MM on a contract that runs through his age-35 season and is already showing signs of decline. Unless the Pirates are interested merely in clearing salary off their books and a willingness to accept a relatively weak package in return, the team would surely be better off waiting for Hayes and Reynolds to improve—or at least for their contracts to become less onerous as more gets paid down—in order to trade them.

Even if Hayes and Reynolds appear unlikely to exchange hands this summer, that doesn’t mean the Pirates have no one to dangle on the hitting side of things. All parties surely want Andrew McCutchen to retire in Pittsburgh, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa is a pending free agent who has put together a solid enough season (108 wRC+) to attract plenty of interest. Tommy Pham and Adam Frazier are also pending free agents, but have struggled this year and may not garner much outside interest. One other intriguing option would be moving catcher Joey Bart, who has hit .256/.341/.406 (109 wRC+) in a Pirates uniform but could be moved if Pittsburgh is ready to pass the torch to Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez.