Trade rumors are heating up with the Major League Baseball trade deadline less than a week away. Major moves have already been made, like the Randy Arozarena being acquired by the Seattle Mariners. With the Pittsburgh Pirates in a tight race for the third Wild Card playoff spot, will some of these rumors become reality?
Pittsburgh has been great lately but still on the outside looking in for the postseason. Now is the time for them to make some additions, given that the July 30th trade deadline is so close.
The main area that the Pirates should be focusing on is adding some bats to the bottom end of the lineup. Pittsburgh’s pitching has been great this year, but their offense ranks in the bottom third of the league in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. One player mentioned as a potential fit according to Tim Britton and Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic is Washington Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas.
“The Nationals hung on to Lane Thomas last summer, despite a career-best season that should have boosted his value,” Britton and Gleeman said. “His OPS is down 120 points from this time last year, and he comes with one fewer year of team control. So he’s not going to bring back a top-100 prospect or the like. However, Thomas does everything well enough, and he can be a nice fit for a team looking for a higher floor from a corner outfielder.”
Thomas is slashing .247/.320/.396 this season with eight home runs and 39 RBIs in 74 games. This level of production would be great to add for the Pirates and would surely help them as they make a push for the playoffs.
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