We all want DJ LeMahieu back. We all also want some good starting pitching. It seems unreasonable to pay Trevor Bauer boatloads of money for one good year against the relatively weak AL Central and NL Central. Besides 2018, Bauer’s ERA had always been north of 4 before 2020. There are some other fliers on the free-agent market, for example, Jake Odorizzi. But there are no true difference makers outside of Bauer, especially considering that Charlie Morton, Mike Minor, and Kevin Gausman are off the market. There’s always the chance that they bring back Masahiro Tanaka, but even then it would be only him and Gerrit Cole in the rotation who have ever pitched more than one full season in the bigs.
Pirates get: 1B Mike Ford, P Luis Gil (Yankees’ #5 prospect), SS Oswald Peraza (Yankees’ #4 prospect) (total value: 21.80)
