Potential Trade Targets for the Pirates: American League

The Pirates are currently 5 games over .500 and 1 game out of the division lead. They will almost certainly be buyers at the trade deadline. So from the teams who will probably be sellers, here are the players, whether probable or purely a dream, I would like to see in a Pirates uniform come August.

AL East
Yeah right, none of these teams are selling.

AL Central

Indians
Hard to tell what this team will do at the deadline. While they are currently contending for their division, their -45 run differential suggests they will fall off at some point. If they are sellers at the trade deadline, I would love to see the Pirates go after Asdrubal Cabrera. He has 2 years left on his contract after this year, but the Indians might not want to trade him. Maybe they could nab him for one or two of the AAA pitchers if the Indians are looking to shed salary at the deadline. Still, have to think he's one of the Indians' most coveted assests, so he most likely won't be available. They might be more willing to give up Shin-Soo Choo for cheap, however, as he is up for arbitration next year.

Tigers
A team that is really underachieving this year, the Tigers could be sellers if they don't turn their season around in a hurry. A potential bat could be OF Austin Jackson, who has a miniscule $500K 1-year contract with the Tigers and has hit well in limited play. Again, the Tigers biggest need is pitching, so maybe a minor league pitcher or two could land Jackson.

Royals
The Royals have been hit hard with injuries this year, and are most likely already out of their division race. The Pirates could take a chance on aging RF Jeff Francoeur, or they could look to try and get a longer-term solution at SS with Alcides Escobar. Francouer probably could be had for a prospect or draft pick, Escobar might take a little more to get.

Twins
The Twins most likely are looking to start a youth movement with two disappointing seasons after winning back-to-back division titles. One name that keeps popping up for the Pirates is OF Josh Willingham, and it's pretty easy to see why. He has great numbers on the season, and despite just signing a longish contract with the Twins, if they are looking to dump salary, he could probably be gotten for a couple low prospects or draft picks. Another potential is 1B Justin Morneau, but who might be a little pricey for the notoriously thrifty Pirates ($15M/year). But if NH is serious about spending more this year, he could be a great pickup for a couple of years. Or perhaps a deal could be worked similar to the Burnett deal, where the Twins pick up some of his salary.

AL West

Athletics
Oakland is in a tough division to win, and most likely will not be a contender for a wild card spot with so many good AL East teams in the picture, but they have been playing much better of late and may not be sellers at the deadline after all. But if they are, they may be willing to give up on LF Seth Smith (arb. next year) or, if the Pirates are willing to give up quite a bit, Josh Reddick.

Mariners
Seattle has struggled all year, and they are firmly in the AL West basement. Potential names they could be selling are Dustin Ackely, who has one more year on his contract after this season. If the Pirates really want to make a splash, they could try to finagle away INF Kyle Seagar, who has spent time at 3rd, SS, and 2nd.  It would probably take some big chips to get him, though.

Pirates trade for Ryan Ludwick

A deal that went through just before the deadline yesterday, the Pirates have acquired right fielder Ryan Ludwick from the Padres, a player whom some believe was hampered in his offensive ability by the vast dimensions in San Diego's Petco Park. Once again the Pirates gave up next to nothing to get him (a PTBNL and cash), so once again this trade is a win for the Buccos. Ludwick will face his old team in the weekend series against the Padres this week.

Ludwick's numbers this year: 101 GP, 11 HR, 64 RBI, 32 BB, 87 K, 1 SB, 1 CS, .238/.301/.373

Pirates trade for Derrek Lee

Per everybody on twitter, the Pirates have traded for Derrek Lee from the Orioles, giving up Aaron Baker, who currently is the firstbaseman in Bradenton. If you're like me, you've never heard the name Aaron Baker before tonight, so needless to say this is a great deal for the Pirates. It also hopefully means the end of the Lyle Overbay era in Pittsburgh.

Lee's numbers this year: 85 GP, 12 HR, 41 RBI, 25 BB, 83 K, 2 SB, 1 CS, .246/.302/.404
Overbay's for reference: 102 GP, 7 HR, 35 RBI, 36 BB, 74 K, 1 SB, 1 CS, .227/.301/.342

Let's Go Bucs.

Trade Deadline recap

Here's who the Pirates have traded today:

Arizona Diamondbacks: C Chris Snyder and SS Pedro Ciriaco(prospect) for RP DJ Carrasco, 2B/SS Bobby Crosby, and OF Ryan Church.

San Francisco Giants: SP Joe Martinez and 1B/OF John Bowker for RP Javier Lopez.

Los Angeles Dodgers: RP James McDonald and OF Andrew Lambo for RP Octavio Dotel.

Chris Snyder is a decent catcher whose career BA is .233, with a high of .277 in 2006 and a low of .200 in 2009.  This year he's hitting .231.  He had a career high of 16 HRs in 2008, and he has 10 this year, well on track to match or exceed that output. My guess is that he will take over the starting catching job with Kratz as the backup.  They can then decide how Doumit fits in, if at all, when he comes back.  Pedro Ciriaco seems like a decent SS prospect, something the Bucs have been lacking lately.  He's similar to Argenis Diaz, and he will presumably join AAA Indianapolis. Hate to see Carrasco go, but I'm not at all sad to see Church gone and frankly I'm surprised anyone would want him, even if he was fluff in this trade, with the real meat being Carrasco. Bobby Crosby was okay, and was a decent backup for Cedeno at times.

Joe Martinez has only pitched in a handful of games for the Giants and his ERA hasn't exactly been stellar. He was a 12th rounder in the 2005 draft. John Bowker is a weak outfielder whose career stats are not that great. Both of them will head to Indy. Lopez was okay, but not exactly great, so if either one of these guys pan out I'll call it a win.

James McDonald is a decent relief pitcher who pitched well last year, but hasn't had many games this year. He can start and relieve, so presumably he'll replace Carrasco or Lopez in the bullpen for now. Lambo is a pretty talented prospect whose career got derailed somewhat for violating the drug policy.  He was the #3 prospect in the Dodgers organization at the beginning of the year, so this trade looks like a big win for the Bucs at this point.  He'll head to Altoona, I'm guessing. Dotel was great as a closer for the Bucs this year, but he was only supposed to be here until Meek was ready to take over the closer role, and Meek definitely seems ready after his All-Star berth this year.

Surprisingly neither Paul Maholm nor Zach Duke garnered any interest, so they will the stay with the team.  All 3 of these trades seem like wins at this point, but trades have looked good before only to fail miserably, so we'll just have to wait and see how these turn out.