Pirates acquire Bryan De La Cruz from Marlins

Pirates acquire Bryan De La Cruz from Marlins

The Miami Marlins continue to be busy ahead of the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline, this time trading slugger Bryan De La Cruz to the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman.

The Pirates announced shortly thereafter that the return would be for prospects Jun-Seok Shim and infielder Garrett Forrester, the No. 17 and 18 prospects in the system, respectively, according to MLB Pipeline.

De La Cruz, who has three years left of control, is expected to slot right into the middle of their lineup with Rowdy Tellez and Oneil Cruz . The Pirates’ outfield collectively owned the 11th-worst slugging percentage, 10th-worst wRC+ and ninth-worst isolated power this season.

De La Cruz is having a down year, but it’s a wise gamble for Pittsburgh to invest in the 27-year-old power bat. He’s slashing .245/.289/.417–equating to a .707 OPS and 93 wRC+–with 19 doubles, 18 home runs and 51 RBIs.

His 18 homers are one off from tying his career-high, set last season. His expected slugging percentage and barrel rate both grade in the 77th and 76th percentile, respectively, according to Baseball Savant’s metrics. He’s not a strong fielder and is a swing-and-miss candidate–those are his biggest deficiencies. When he makes contact, it can go a long way; that’s a big if, but it’s one worth gambling on at an inexpensive cost.

As I previously noted, it’s been a very busy deadline for the Miami Marlins, who have traded A.J. Puk , Jazz Chisholm, Trevor Rogers , Josh Bell , Tanner Scott and JT Chargois over the last four days. That’s after flipping Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres in early May.

All in all, this was a good deadline for first-year general manager Peter Bendix, even though I think they could’ve squeezed more for De La Cruz, who I may be higher on than the consensus. We’ll see how he does in another environment where it’s not the easiest to generate the long-ball.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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