OnlyBucs

The Bucs are 8 games out in the Central and a couple games out of the last wild card spot. With a third of the season complete I believe it’s time to make moves if the Pirates are serious about playing meaningful baseball in September.
With Skenes, Keller, Jones, and Falter the Pirates have arguably the best and possibly deepest rotation in baseball. They must not waste these starts they are getting from the starting staff.

IF I was BC I would first do the obvious immediately.
1) Recall Lamb and DFA Tellez
2) Recall Davis and insert him as my starting catcher.

Secondly I would target 2 trades
3) Check in with the Marlins and see what it would take to bring Josh Bell back to the Bucs. This would be for risk mitigation if Lamb comes back to earth.
4) The big move. Mason Miller is too valuable a commodity for the A’s to keep as they plan their move to Vegas in 2028. He is not a free agent until 2030 which aligns perfectly with the supposed window the Pirates are working to. Yes it will cost a heavy prospect package to get Miller. But the Bucs have a huge wealth of pitching prospects that should interest the A’s. I normally do not advocate trading prospects but Miller is the most dominant closer since Chapman was in his prime.

I'm good with bringing Lamb here where he can platoon with Joe in the short term. The long term goal should be preparing Cruz to play first base.

I'm good with recalling Henry Davis. He's been hitting much better since being sent down, although I'd like to seem him build on what he's done for another two to three weeks.

While I'd love to have him, I'm not onboard with trading for Miller. Closers can be had for much less than what the Pirates would have to give for him. Besides, Bednar seems to have shaken free of his early season troubles. His last 10 outings have been what we've typically seen in the past: one earned run, seven hits, two walks, over nine and a third innings. If the Pirates make a trade it has to fill a true need: a power bat.

For my money, the two players the Pirates can trade who might be able to answer that need are Hayes and Falter. Hayes can be replaced by Triolo well enough on defense if not as well at the plate. But what's lost in no longer having Hayes might be made up for with whomever comes back in return, if he hits for more power than Hayes.

Trading Falter's a bit trickier. At this point, he looks like the one player who can return the biggest prize, especially from a team in need, like Baltimore. On the one hand, it could be that he's now matured as a pitcher and will be dominant for the foreseeable future. The Pirates rotation could well be the best in baseball for the next five years, barring injury, if we keep him. On the other hand, while he's enjoying his first real success in the big leagues right now, there's the thought that he'll return to his previous form. If other GMs believe that will be the case, BC won't be able to get what he wants.

I'm all for a trade, but it needs to be for a young power bat, preferably an outfielder. The organization hasn't drafted a player to fit that need for too many years to count. It's inexcusable, and unfathomable. How can they explain that?

I'm offering three minor league arms and termarr for Miller and Brent Rooker. Solometo, Chandler, Harrington, And Termarr should get that done

A bat or two and this team could see .500. We absolutely have major league starting pitching.

There are too many in house things that should be done before any trades are made. I know it's radical to send Cruz down, but that needs to be done and get Peguero here. They have stockpiled a bunch of shortstops. Let's see what we have. I think it is obvious that Cruz will never be a mlb shortstop. Bae- regular cf and leadoff guy, right or left pitching. Taylor-late inning defense.tellez out, Lamb here. My lineup would be:
Bae-cf
Gonzales-2b
Joe- rf
Lamb-1b
Cutch-dh
Reynolds-lf
Hayes-3b
Peguero-ss
Catcher