5 Right Fielders Pittsburgh Pirates Could Easily Acquire
5 Cheap Right Field Options For Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates have the best record in baseball. No, you don’t have to replace your glasses, you are seeing this right; the Pirates really do have the best record in the MLB. At 49-30, the Pirates have a one-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central division.
The Pirates have been winning mainly because of a pitching staff that has pitched above everyone’s expectations. The staff really has been excellent, one of the best in baseball. The Pirates’ pitchers rank second in the MLB in ERA (3.20), fifth in WHIP (1.21) and first in opponents’ batting average (.227). Getting unexpected contributions from guys like Jeanmar Gomez, Jeff Locke and Vin Mazzaro have been a huge help for the team this season. Nobody could have predicted that Gomez would be a very good pitcher for the Pirates; in fact, it was frustrating when he made the club out of Spring Training.
While the pitching has been great, the offense hasn’t been as promising. Pedro Alvarez, Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Russell Martin have all provided above-average offense for their positions, along with very nice offense from Neil Walker, the first base platoon of Gaby Sanchez and Garrett Jones and newest shortstop Jordy Mercer. While there aren’t many obvious upgrades this Pirates’ team needs, right field is a rather big one. Travis Snider has shown flashes of being a good right fielder, especially defensively, but he just hasn’t been able to put it all together yet. I’m not ready to give up on him, but if he continues to struggle, an improvement will need to be made. I have compiled a list of five outfielders that could be traded for rather easily, without giving up any top prospects. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Norichika Aoki
Norichika Aoki is a professional hitter. He uses the entire field, and would be a perfect right fielder for the Pirates. He could hit at the top of the order, either leading off or hitting second. Using Aoki at lead-off would make it possible to put Starling Marte in a more natural spot in the order for him. In 2013, Aoki has a .291/.370/.380 slash line. The only thing that makes this a bit unreasonable is that the Milwaukee Brewers are in the same division as the Pirates, and I'm not sure how the Brewers feel about trading within the division.
Marlon Byrd
Marlon Byrd is probably the most boring of all the choices in this list, but that means he's probably the easiest to acquire. The Pirates could use a right-fielder that can hit lefties, and that is what Byrd is. While his overall slash line for 2013 is .258/.309/.493, his slash line against lefties is a much better .276/.323/.494. Trading for Byrd seems like a very good possibility.
John Mayberry Jr
Trading for John Mayberry Jr. would be a lot like trading for Marlon Byrd. He isn't good against right-handed pitching, but he crushes lefties. His slash line against lefties is .292/.320/.521.
Nate Schierholtz
Nate Schierholtz is just a good player. He's so underrated, nobody seems to realize how good this guy is. He has a 1.4 WAR this season, which is pretty good for a guy that nobody knows about. His slash line of .284/.333/.544 would look really good in right field for the Pirates.
David DeJesus
David DeJesus is getting old, he's not a great player, but he's very solid. He seems to always have good at-bats, so he's worth trading for as a fourth outfielder that can play every outfield position. His 2013 slash line is respectable, better than Travis Snider's, .260/.318/.445.
