Pirates rumors: Bucs interested in Travis Snider

Neal Huntington says the Pirates have at least some interest in Travis Snider, who was released by the Orioles yesterday.

"Travis played very well for us, so obviously we'd have some interest." - GM Neal Huntington on Travis Snider, recently DFA'd by Orioles.

— David Todd (@DTonPirates) August 16, 2015

Signing Snider would be a pretty marginal move, but it would please fans, and it's hard to argue it would be a bad one. Snider would probably replace Travis Ishikawa, who's hit just .188/.278/.313 since the Pirates acquired him -- with Snider, Pedro Alvarez and Michael Morse on the team, Ishikawa wouldn't serve much of a purpose, assuming he serves one now. Snider hasn't hit much this year himself, which is why he's available in the first place, but he should be better than Ishikawa.

As I noted last week, the controversial trade that sent Snider to Baltimore in the first place looks better and better for the Bucs -- Snider is now freely available, and Stephen Tarpley and Steven Brault both look like legit pitching prospects. Acquiring Snider now would be a bit like the Bucs' acquisition of Nate McLouth in late 2011. At the time, they still had everyone from the controversial McLouth trade in their system, and suddenly they had McLouth back, too.