Are the Pittsburgh Pirates shopping starter Jared Jones?

Are the Pittsburgh Pirates shopping starter Jared Jones?

Last week during the Winter Meetings, the Pittsburgh Pirates parlayed their pitching depth into a controllable bat, acquiring first baseman Spencer Horwitz from the Cleveland Guardians for right-hander Luis Ortiz and two pitching prospects.

According to a recent report from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the Pirates, the third-worst offense in MLB last year (86 wRC+), may not be finished. That might include trading burgeoning right-handed starter Jared Jones, who’s coming off a standout rookie season behind ace Paul Skenes.

“The Pirates have been vocal about their willingness to trade pitching for offense,” Andrew Destin and Noah Hiles of the Post-Gazette wrote last week. “Sources indicate [Luis Ortiz] was not the only member of last year’s starting rotation available to be dealt. The Post-Gazette learned Monday the Pirates were open to the idea of trading Mitch Keller. A day later, a league source said Jared Jones was also ‘very available.'”

Coming off his two best seasons as a pro (2022-23), Keller signed a five-year, $77 million deal before the 2024 season. He had a rather mediocre 2024 and will still have $71.4 million left on his deal ($62M luxury tax), so moving makes some sense. The most alarming detail, however, is how available Jones is.

Teams who need pitching should be chomping at the bit for Jones, 23, who had a spectacular rookie season after missing nearly two months with a lat strain. Overall, he sported a 4.14 ERA with a 4.00 FIP across 22 starts, striking out 26.2 percent of the batters he faced with an 18.5 percent K-BB%. He became one of only four pitchers ever to strike out at least seven batters over his first five games; he also became one of 14 pitchers ever to sport at least a 26.0 K% and 18.0 K% in at least 120.0 innings as a rookie, according to Stathead.

Not to mention, he graded out in the 69th percentile in chase rate and 84th percentile in whiff rate, per Baseball Savant. He’s still fine-tuning his four-pitch mix, but he’s got the goods.

He still has two years before he reaches arbitration and five more years left before he reaches free agency. The Pirates are the Pirates–one of the cheapest organizations in MLB–but it’s not going to take an insignificant haul to land him.

It’s damning that the Pirates are more than willing to fork over even more of their pitching depth to secure bats. They do have top pitching prospect Bubba Chandler plus Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington waiting in the wings, but is really worth it to sacrifice Jones this early? We shall see what the market suggests.

“Viewed by some to be in the upper tier of the game’s intriguing young arms, the 23-year-old right-hander would have a much higher price tag due to his potential, league-minimum contract and multiple years of remaining control,” Destin and Hiles wrote. “Word of Jones’ availability came to the Post-Gazette’s attention Tuesday evening, not long before the Ortiz deal was made, meaning his trade status could have changed with another young right-hander no longer in the picture.”

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