The Pittsburgh Pirates are considered the “best fit” to acquire San Diego Padres flame-throwing reliever Adrian Morejon in a deadline trade.
Morejon is one of the best relief pitchers who is likely to be traded at this year’s MLB trade deadline. The 27-year-year-old Cuban RP is in the final season of team control with San Diego, and with Morejon set to hit the free-agent market this offseason, Padres GM AJ Preller is likely to trade him ahead of the deadline.
If he does trade him, then Pittsburgh is a potential destination.
Pittsburgh Pirates Linked to Adrian Morejon
In his MLB trade deadline piece, ESPN’s Jeff Passan suggested that Morejon is the “best fit” for the Pirates at this year’s deadline as Pittsburgh looks to beef up its bullpen ahead of a potential postseason run.
The Pirates currently have a 55-55 record but are just 2.5 GB of the third and final NL Wild Card spot. While the Padres are actually one of the teams that the Pirates are chasing, as San Diego is one game ahead of them, it’s still possible that these two NL Wild Card contenders link up in a trade for Morejon.
Passan wrote the following about the Pirates’ trade deadline aspirations: “Should they land relievers — and they are trawling everywhere for them — the Pirates’ potential comes that much closer to morphing into reality. They’re two games back of the final wild-card spot. A playoff berth is within reach. And whether it’s one of the Mets’ arms or a high-strikeout type like Ryan Zeferjahn or even the flamethrowing Morejon, the upgrades are there for the taking.”
Adrian Morejon is a Stud RP
Acquiring Morejon would be a huge move for Pittsburgh’s bullpen, as the Cuban is one of the most underrated relief pitchers in MLB.
This season, Morejon has pitched in 50 games with a 3.14 ERA and 0.8 bWAR. He has thrown 57.1 IP with 64 strikeouts.
Last season, Morejon was an All-Star for the first time in his MLB career, which began eight years ago for the Padres, the only team he’s ever played for. He makes $3.9 million in salary this season.
With Morejon coming in at a cheap salary, he makes a ton of sense for the Pirates to acquire, as they are a team on a tight budget but yet needs to make some moves at the deadline if they want to compete for a playoff spot.
Morejon averages over 99 MPH on his fastball, so he throws hard and would bring a nice left-handed element to Pittsburgh’s bullpen if they were to acquire him from San Diego.
Since Morejon only has a few months left on his current contract, he likely wouldn’t cost a ton in a trade, as the Padres would be at risk of losing him for nothing this offseason, as he will likely be looking to close for another team, and the Padres already have Mason Miller as their closer.
With that being the case, look for the Padres to ship off Morejon for a few prospects.
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