sharon_orn
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Pirates center fielder is thought to be available on the trade market, though a deal seems to be a long shot. reports that the club is not shopping him but has received plenty of calls and is willing to listen to offers. frames the situation similarly, saying that the Bucs would have to be bowled over by an offer in Kenny Lofton Jersey order to pull the trigger. is even more emphatic, saying that Cruz isnt going anywhere. The po sibility of a Cruz trade first seemed to open about a month ago, when it was that the Pirates had very few untouchable players ahead of this years deadline. Apart from and franchise icon , it seemed everyone else was on the table. A lot of the clubs focus seems to be on players they signed to long-term deals who are no longer in their plans. That would be , and . Both Hayes and Reynolds have had disappointing results lately and their contracts are seen as underwater. Keller has been pitching well but he may be expendable since the club has so many younger and cheaper pitchers who could replace him. Cruz would be a different situation. He is still young and cheaply affordable. He can be retained for three seasons beyond this one. He will qualify for arbitration for the first time at the end of this season. His performance on the field has not been perfect but he is clearly talented and valuable. He has some of the top raw abilities in the majors, frequently topping Statcast leaderboards with his exit velocity, speed and arm strength. On the other hand, he strikes out a lot and his defense is wobbly. By the eye test, he takes some awkward routes but he can make up for those sometimes with his excellent speed. He has been punched out in 31.9% of his plate appearances this year but hes also drawn walks at a 12.5% clip and hit 16 home runs. The result is a .219/.319/.419 batting line and 102 wRC+. He has 33 steals in 37 attempts. Defensive Runs Saved has him at -7 this year but Outs Above Average has him at +2. Put it all together and its still a strong player. FanGraphs credited him with 3.5 wins above replacement last year and hes on a similar pace this year, currently at 2.0 fWAR. Teams will naturally be attracted to that, especially those with notable budgetary concerns. However, from Pittsburghs perspective, its understandable that they would set a high asking price. They have developed a huge pool of pitching talent but have struggled to do the same with their position players. Players like Hayes, , , and others have not turned out as hoped. Cruz, on the other hand, is the clubs best position player. Hes the only one on the team to have produced more than 1.1 fWAR this year. Last year, he was the only guy to get beyond 2.1 fWAR. In other words, trading him would blow a huge hole in the lineup. And the lineup already has a few of those. The Pirates arent contending this year but presumably want to get over the hump soon. They havent been in the playoffs since 2015. They have an exciting group of young pitchers, headlined by Skenes, and surely want to build a winning club around them. Theyre already having a hard time doing that with Cruz on the roster. Unle s they get offered something too good to refuse, it seems he is likely staying in Pittsburgh. Teams like the Royals, Guardians, Mets, Phillies, Tigers and Angels could be looking for center field help, though they may have a better chance at getting guys like , , or . The Pirates will listen to Cruz offers but will likely spend more time talking about Keller, Reynolds, Hayes and others in the next week. Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images Duane Underwood Jr. Jersey
