Thanks to Basmati, who caught this:
"There's been a great amount of interest in a couple of our right-handed hitters,'' Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said on Thursday, apparently referring to Bay and Nady...
The value of both Bay and Nady, who is hitting .321 with 12 home runs and 55 RBIs, is enhanced by the fact both are contracted beyond this year and thus more than just "rental'' players...
One N.L. executive said he heard that Pittsburgh sought multiple upper-echelon prospects, exactly the sort teams don't like to trade. However, execs say it's understandable considering the recent performance of the pair.
The Pirates are believed to be seeking Arizona's top prospect Emilio Bonifacio, a second baseman, in a package. The Diamondbacks are reluctant to deal Bonifacio since Orlando Hudson may leave as a free agent after the year. From the Cardinals, who'd surely like to match the trades of Milwaukee (CC Sabathia) and the Cubs (Rich Harden), the likely target is top center field prospect Colby Rasmus, who's thought to be untouchable.
SI hasn't done much original reporting on prospective Pirates trades recently, and these rumors are strange ones indeed, so this article should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
Bonifacio is not the Diamondbacks' top prospect--just off the top of my head, Max Scherzer and Jarrod Parker are far beter regarded--and the best you can say about Bonifacio is that he runs fast and plays good defense. He's not much of a hitter and he has no power at all. It's unclear to me why the Pirates would be asking for him, or why the Diamondbacks would refuse to part with him.
Rasmus is a very good prospect, and there'd be a certain amount of appeal to trading with the Cardinals, who (as the writer notes) may be feeling some pressure to improve after recent trades by the Brewers and Cubs, but I doubt the Cardinals would trade him. After that, there isn't a lot of high-level talent in the Cardinals' system. Probably the closest they've got is catcher Bryan Anderson, a 21-year-old AAA catcher, who's having a great year, but he doesn't hit for power or draw many walks.