The Pittsburgh Pirates entering play today are currently in third place in the National League Central and currently sit nine games back of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are also three games back of the final Wild Card spot trailing the St. Louis Cardinals who they will start a three-game series against tonight the Pirates will have Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, and Martin Perez going while St. Louis has Kyle Gibson, Miles Mikolas, and Andre Pallante. The Pirates are 5-5 in their last ten and with them being in the race and the calendar now into July the conversations have begun about Pittsburgh being buyers at the trade deadline which takes place on July 30th, so we are 28 days away. Now a lot can change between and then, one bad week could have you out of it but with the additions of Jared Jones and Paul Skenes to the rotation the Pirates have been an exciting team to watch. So the questions begin of what teams in the playoff conversation need for a playoff push as well as a potential playoff run, well the Pirates could use one more arm to go with Keller, Jones, Skenes, and Bailey Falter; Perez is an option but what if they could add another arm? Maybe some bullpen depth to go with Aroldis Chapman and David Bednar. But what if they go add a power bat to go with Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, and Andrew McCutchen? There have been reports that the Toronto Blue Jays may be willing to move on from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and start the rebuild process, and there’s been rumbling that the Pirates could be in on him, the deal could potentially look along the lines of moving Termarr Johnson, Anthony Solometo, another arm, and a lower tier prospect. Johnson is the 56th overall ranked prospect by ITD, and Solometo is the 66th overall ranked prospect by ITD.
Trade By The Numbers
1B – Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Guerrero is in his sixth season, for his career he is hitting .281 with a .845 OPS; he has 150 doubles, five triples, 143 home runs, 454 RBI, 417 runs scored, 20 stolen bases, and 315 walks. This season in 83 games he is hitting .297 with a .845 OPS; he has 17 doubles, 13 home runs, 50 RBI, 40 runs scored, two stolen bases, and 38 walks.
INF – Termarr Johnson
Johnson is in his third season with the Pirates farm system, in 200 games he is a .235 hitter with a .803 OPS; he has 29 doubles, two triples, 26 home runs, 96 RBI, 142 runs scored, 29 stolen bases, and 172 walks. This season at High-A Greensboro in 72 games he is hitting .226 with a .740 OPS; he has 11 doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 31 RBI, 52 runs scored, 13 stolen bases, and 55 walks.
LHP – Anthony Solometo
Solometo is in his third season in the Pirates system, he’s made 50 appearances with 42 coming as starts going 9-12 with a 3.63 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP, a 3.7 BB/9, and a 9.1 K/9 having pitched 191 innings. At Double-A Altoona this season he’s made 13 appearances with ten of those coming as starts going 0-4 with a 6.27 ERA, a 1.61 WHIP, a 5.7 BB/9, and a 6.5 K/9 while throwing 33 innings.
Wrap Up:
What do you think, would you do a trade for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. starting with the two prospects listed, and then two other prospects? I personally would because Johnson may be a star but he’s in High-A and you don’t know how he’ll progress; Solometo is a nice arm and a lefty but they also have Bubba Chandler who has been having a good season at Double-A Altoona and could be looking to get the call to Triple-A Indianapolis and be in the mix for the 2025 season. The foundation is good and you get someone who helps in the middle of your order in Guerrero.
