Pittsburgh Pirates Now Have a Relative Surplus of Pitching Talent

In the recent past, the Pittsburgh Pirates have traded their best hitters—Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, Nate McLouth—for "packages" that included pitchers. The result is that the Pirates now have a dearth of hitters, and a surplus of pitchers.

Besides recent signees, A.J. Burnett and Erik Bedard, the Pirates have Kevin Correia, Jeff Karstens, James McDonald, Charlie Morton and Brad Lincoln, potentially a seven-man rotation. As it were, Burnett and Morton started the season on the disabled list (and Karstens has since gone there), meaning that Lincoln needed to be pressed into service early in the season.

Among the veterans, Bedard and Correia become free agents at the end of 2012. Burnett is signed until 2013. As early as next year, their replacements could include Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole.

The most obvious trade piece, as fellow columnist Ian Hanford pointed out, is Bedard. Along with Correia, he has the shortest remaining tenure of the Pirates' pitchers.

But he is the "lefty" and therefore might be of greater value for a contending team in the home stretch of the season. Either he or Correia could command a good hitter, or two position prospects.

Burnett is signed for two years, which means that he can be kept by the Pirates through 2013. But if he recovers his former form, the combination of this, plus the longer tenure, could make him the most valuable trade piece of all.

The alternative is to let these pitchers walk, and get compensation draft picks if they are "Type B" free agents or better.

So which positions do the Pirates need to fill with better hitters? The outfield is the better-hitting part of the lineup, and they already have a good fourth outfielder in recently re-signed Nate McLouth, and another one, Starling Marte, waiting in the wings in the minors.

The key spots to fill are in the infield. Pittsburgh has platoon arrangements at both of the corners, positions that are often occupied (on other teams) by the team's best hitters. Some sacrifice of hitting ability is warranted at shortstop (a key defensive position), but Clint Barnes is not a good hitter even compared to other shortstops.

The Pirates also need a better-hitting catcher than Rod Barajas, although an earlier piece of mine opined that they already have that catcher on staff in Michael McKenry.

Trading is about giving up some of what you have for some of what you need. In times past, it made sense for the Pirates to trade for pitchers, now it makes sense for them to trade away pitchers—for infielders.