John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Buster Olney of ESPN has heard that the Los Angeles Angels have made both Mark Trumbo and Peter Bourjos available to other teams if they wish to pursue a trade. The Angels aren’t going to trade them away as a salary dump or as part of a fire-sale, however. They want young, controllable pitching, according to Olney.
One team in particular that has a lot of young, controllable pitching is the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs also have a huge need at first base, and Trumbo would fill that need. Trumbo certainly isn’t the ideal fit for the Pirates due to his poor defense and issues with strikeouts. But even though there are definite negatives in Trumbo’s game, he also has three years of control remaining if the Pirates wish to trade for him and he has immense power.
The Pirates have a bunch of potential trade candidates if they decide to make a serious push for Trumbo. There are the great prospect candidates like Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow and Luis Heredia that I would prefer them to keep. Also, there are young, controllable pitchers that have already pitched for the Pirates like Stolmy Pimentel, Jeff Locke and Brandon Cumpton.
The Pirates probably wouldn’t give up Taillon for Trumbo and the Angels probably wouldn’t give up Trumbo for Cumpton or Pimentel straight up, so there would need to be some creativity involved in a potential trade. If I were the Pirates, I would consider offering some type of deal involving a Heredia/Cumpton package. It would give the Angels a MLB-ready starter in Cumpton and a very talented, young prospect in Heredia. The Pirates wouldn’t have to sell the farm and the Angels would be getting something useful in return.
