For years, Pittsburgh Pirates fans have been conditioned to brace for disappointment the moment the word trade enters the conversation. Either the return feels light, the timing feels wrong, or the best player somehow ends up wearing a different uniform while Pittsburgh is left selling “future value.”
That’s why the return Pittsburgh landed for Mike Burrows on Friday felt… different. Not just good –– market-altering good.
Burrows — a solid, controllable right-hander with six years of team control — was flipped in a three-team deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros that brought back Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum and Mason Montgomery.