Trade Talk

Some recent Pittsburgh trade yap from the usual suspects:

• CBS Sports' Jon Heyman discussed some trade rumors among other things on Jonah Keri's Grantland podcast. He said that surprise contenders like the Mets, Orioles and Pirates will look to upgrade themselves for a pennant race, though Heyman thinks these teams are "probably all realistic about their chances" and won't sacrifice their rebuilding process by trading any of their blue chip prospects. The Pirates a corner outfielder, such as Carlos Quentin or Josh Willingham if the Twins were to make him available. We get the same sense that they will deal from their B prospect deck rather than the elite list for help this season.
• Richard Justice of MLB.com has a different take. He writes "...how far does GM Neal Huntington go in shoring up his roster? If he can acquire a middle-of-the-order bat, does he trade away some of the young pitching depth he has acquired? Pedro Alvarez has a 1.258 OPS since June 16, and if he continues to crush the ball, Huntington's club may be good enough without a single change." 
• Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLB Trade Rumors listed available righty relievers, and included a pair of Buccos: Brad Lincoln, who the Diamondbacks and Padres might have some degree of interest in,  and Joel Hanrahan. He doesn’t expect the Pirates to trade Hanny now that they’re leading the NL Central. But if they had to part with him to get an impact bat, they might listen.
• Tom Singer of MLB.com thinks the Bucs are in buy mode and looking for a lefty bat.
  
• Tim Kurkjian of ESPN's Baseball Tonight said “...I’ve been told by people within the Pirates organization they are going to get a bat. Either an outfielder or a first baseman…They are not fooling around. After all these years...they are going to go for it.” The vid is on Jim Rosati's North Side Notch blog.