Mariners Rumors: Trading with the Pirates for Tyler Anderson

Dipoto has let it be known that the Mariners are going to be looking around for starting pitching help at the deadline. There are a few teams that they could call up about it, and one of them would be calling Pittsburgh about Tyler Anderson.

Alright Pirates fans, let’s try this again.

Baseball Trade Values gives him a value of 1.7. He’s 31 and will be a UFA after this season. That doesn’t hold a lot of long-term value. However, I just don’t think that value is right. Neither do I think that some of the other values on the site are correct. See, that’s the problem with the trade deadline. If 12 teams are looking for a starting pitcher, and there are only five that are reasonable to go get, all of them see their value increase by a multiplier of 2.4.

I’m not saying that makes him a stud. A player that you could expect a return of… say Clarke Schmidt, George Kirby, or Jordan Balazovic. You can still get a solid prospect/s in return, and find some players that will help you during your rebuild.

(For Pirates fans tired of seeing your team in a rebuild/players in rumors… Remember, we’re the Mariners. The playoffs last happened when Ichiro was a rookie… in 2001. We feel your pain.)

I wanted to take a look at a few realistic trades. Could he end up going for more? Of course. Could he end up going for less when teams decide “well, we missed out on the top end guys, so we will just bide our time”, yeah that happens as well. Every year it seems like there are a couple of deals where a team gets ripped off, whether it is from giving up too much or not giving up enough.

The Mariners could still offer Pittsburgh a fine package for Tyler Anderson

I’m giving Anderson a value somewhere around 4-5. It’s not enough where if the Pirates offered him to the Mariners for someone like Justus Sheffield or Brandon Williamson that the Mariners would say yes. It could get them a little lesser valued prospect though, like the sweet-swinging Austin Shenton (please don’t trade him, Seattle), Campbell, or a pair of further out prospects in Carter Bins and Milkar Perez.

The Mariners are likely going to look for a short-term rental hitter at the deadline. Their number one priority seems to be adding a pitcher though. If the price is right, going for Tyler Anderson from the Pirates would be a great idea.