Just saw this note from Jenifer Langosch on the possibility of trading Starling Marte:
The Bucs have glaring holes to fill this offseason, led by their need to find a first baseman, catcher and shortstop ... If you look through the list of free agents available at any of these positions (not including the top tier of elite players), the options are not especially intriguing ...
General manager Neal Huntington has expressed a willingness to trade prospects for the right return, and there were whispers that Marte was going to be made available back at the Trade Deadline if the Pirates had found the right package. He is still not untouchable.
I don't see any way this can possibly go wrong.
If the Pirates can trade Marte in a good baseball move for another young player or two, fine. It's true that no one should be untouchable. But if the poor free agent market - rather than the future of the organization - has anything to do with the reason why, I mean, yikes. The Pirates had a pretty good ticket out of the free agent market, as we all know, and they didn't punch it.
Fortunately, this just seems like some dot-connecting by Langosch, as opposed to an actual piece of news. In general, I really don't want the Pirates trading prospects right now, especially not ones as good as Marte. If they have to trade an Aaron Baker to get what they need, that's one thing, but anyone better than that would be a problem, unless they can get someone young in return.