Will Brandon Lowe Be Traded by Rays? Latest MLB Rumors on All-Star Amid FA

The Pittsburgh Pirates have reached out to the Tampa Bay Rays about a trade for second baseman Brandon Lowe, according to MLB Network's Jon Morosi.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported on Nov. 18 that the Rays "will listen on offers for [Lowe]."

Having also failed to sign Kyle Schwarber, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported the Cincinnati Reds are looking at Lowe along with the Arizona Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte.

The two-time All-Star is in the final year of his six-year extension with Tampa Bay and will make $11.5 million in 2026.

The Rays' sale went through in September, and fans are hopeful the Patrick Zalupski-led ownership group will be more aggressive spenders than predecessor Stuart Sternberg.

Trading Lowe, however, would signal it's likely to be more of the same.

The 31-year-old is on the wrong end of the aging curve, and he isn't an unquestioned elite star. Still, he has been one of the more consistent second basemen in MLB.

Since the start of 2019, Lowe is third at his position wOBA (.344) and wRC+ (124), per FanGraphs. He has finished with an OPS+ above league average in every year of his career as well.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported on Sunday the Rays are among the teams that "checked in" on a trade for Marte. Rosenthal and Sammon followed up to say Lowe could be included in the outgoing trade package.

Flipping Lowe for an upgrade is one thing, and Marte would give Tampa four additional years of team control. Getting prospects back instead may help set the team up better in the long term but wouldn't exactly invigorate the fanbase.