Pirates trade rumors: Bucs interested in Matt Moore, Jake Odorizzi

The Pirates are still trying to trade for a Rays starter, either Matt Moore (their top priority) or Jake Odorizzi, Stephen A. Nesbitt tweets.

As with the Rich Hill rumor, I'm skeptical the Pirates will actually get anything done here. (The Athletics ended up trading Hill to the Dodgers, so the Bucs won't be getting him.) Moore and Odorizzi won't come cheap, and the Rays do not need to be overly motivated to deal them.

Still, trading for Moore or Odorizzi seems more consistent with the Pirates' current strategy than trading for HIll would have been. Moore and Odorizzi are both controllable through 2019, which means that they could help the Bucs in both the short term and the long term. Both have been reasonably effective this year -- Moore has a 4.08 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 is his first full year back from Tommy John surgery, while Odorizzi has a 3.88 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9.