Pirates' recent hot streak should change trade-deadline expectations

The Pittsburgh Pirates should not only be buyers at the 2024 MLB trade deadline (July 30), but they should be aggressive and set their sights high with the intention of landing a significant bat.

Anything less than that would be a disservice to what the current roster has accomplished over the past couple of weeks and the position it has put itself in.

The Pirates have been one of the hottest teams in baseball over the past two weeks and opened the second half by taking two out of three games this weekend from the Philadelphia Phillies, the best team in baseball. They did so while using their fourth, fifth and sixth-best starting pitchers (Luis Ortiz, Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales) and climbed to within a half-game of a wild-card spot in the National League playoff race.

They are now set to begin a huge three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night. The Pirates will also have their two best starting pitchers (Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller) going within the first two games of that series.

It is a great opportunity to make a big statement that they are contenders right now.

Management can make a similar statement by getting them some help.

Not only have the Pirates won eight of their past 10 games to climb back over .500 for the season, but five of those wins have come against NL playoff contenders (Philadelphia, Milwaukee and the New York Mets).

They are also 32-27 since Skenes made his debut and have done that with one of the league's productive offenses in baseball.

They have also shown all season they can hang with the big boys in the NL, owning a 14-12 record against the Phillies, Braves, Dodgers and Brewers.

By every objective measure (ERA, Wins Above Replacement, strikeouts) the Pirates have one of the best starting pitching rotations in the league with Skenes, Jared Jones, Keller and now the emergence of Ortiz.

They have two bonafide bats in Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz.

But they need more. With just a little bit of help, they might be able to seriously compete this season in a very wide-open NL. Some of the names they have been connected to at the trade deadline include Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward and Miami Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. Both players would be upgrades over what they have, but they should try to set their sights higher and make a statement with a true blockbuster.

Somebody like Chicago's Luis Robert Jr., Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Oakland's Brent Rooker should all be realistic targets. They would not only significantly upgrade the roster this season, they would all have additional terms beyond this season. Even more, it would go a long way toward rebuilding trust between management and a fan base that has lost a lot of it over the years. There is no better time to go for it than right now when the league is wide open for the taking.