MLB Trade Deadline: What Could Pirates Get for David Bednar?

If the Pittsburgh Pirates traded David Bednar before the Aug. 2 deadline, it would likely cause a bit of a furor.

A case could be made that Bednar is the Pirates’ most popular player. The crowd at PNC Park rarely gets louder than when Bednar comes in from the bullpen to the song “Renegade.” He was the Pirates’ representative in the All-Star Game earlier this month.

And, of course, Bednar is a Mars High School graduate. That provides plenty of gravitas in a provincial area like Western Pennsylvania.

All indications are the Pirates have no plans to deal the 27-year-old. However, plenty of teams would love to have Bednar for the pennant race and beyond, so perhaps a rival general manager will overwhelm Ben Cherington with an offer.

As we did Tuesday with Bryan Reynolds, we ran Bednar’s name through the trade simulator at baseballtradevalues.com and paired him with five teams that have expressed interest. The site attempts to put a value on each player while accounting for his contract status.

Some potential Bednar deals validated by the site’s trade simulator can be found below and it is clear he would not fetch as much as Reynolds. Not saying these trades are going to happen, or I would do them. It’s just what the computer says.

New York Yankees

Pirates get two prospects – shortstop Oswald Peraza and right-hander Will Warren.

The 22-year-old Peraza is playing at Triple-A, and Warren, 23, is pitching at Double-A. Baseball America ranks Peraza as the Yankees’ second-best prospect and No. 77 in all of baseball, while Warren is No. 9 in the organization.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pirates get right-handed pitching prospect Bobby Miller.

The 23-year-old is pitching at Double-A. BA rates Miller as the Dodgers’ No. 2 prospect and the 25^th-best in the game.

It’s hard to imagine the Dodgers doing this deal but that’s what the simulator came up with.

Minnesota Twins

Pirates get outfielder Trevor Larnach and left-handed pitching prospect Christian MacLeod.

Currently on the injured list, the 25-year-old Larnach is hitting .231/.306/.406 with five home runs in 51 games for the Twins this season. MacLeod, 22, is sitting out the season while recovering from Tommy John reconstructive elbow after being the Twins’ fifth-round draft pick last year.

San Diego Padres

Pirates get two prospects – outfielder James Wood and right-hander Jarlin Susana.

Both are teenagers as Wood is 19 and Susana is 18. Wood is playing at the Low-Class A level and Susana in the Arizona Complex League.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Pirates get two players off the major league team in rookie outfielder Josh Lowe and infielder Taylor Walls.

Lowe, 24, is hitting .203/.259/.331 with two home runs in 49 games. Walls, 26, has a .171/.253/.279 slash line and four home runs in 86 games.

The simulator has to be questioned here, too, as the Pirates could seemingly get at least one better player for Bednar.