Pirates acquire Corey Dickerson

The Pirates have acquired outfielder Corey Dickerson from Tampa Bay in exchange for reliever Daniel Hudson, minor league infielder Tristan Gray and cash.

UPDATE: This probably hasn’t been Daniel Nava’s favorite week ever.

Dickerson almost certainly comes in as the presumptive left fielder. As everybody knows, he had a huge first half in 2017, then fell off badly in the second half. The end result, though, wasn’t out of line with his career production. His OPS+ (which is park-adjusted) in the last four years, two in Colorado and two in Tampa, has been 141, 118, 106 and 120. He is what he is: a guy with good power, a high K rate and weak on-base skills. He seems to be average at least in the field. Unless Dickerson tanks in the spring, Nava, Bryce Brentz and Michael Saunders no doubt will now be competing for bench jobs.

The trade had even better results for the Pirates, though, as they secured the absence of Daniel Hudson while having to pay just $1M of his salary. Dickerson is set to make $5.95M and Hudson $5.5M, so the total cost in dollars for getting rid of a player they didn’t need and acquiring one they did was less than a million and a half. Well, plus Tristan Gray, whom I like but who was definitely expendable. As for the Hudson part of it, he’s not a terrible pitcher. He’s a solid reliever who had one awful month in 2017; unfortunately, it was his first month with a new team. It’s quite possible he’ll be better in 2018 than Michael Feliz or Kyle Cricks. But those two, and other relievers the Pirates have available now, have higher ceilings and the Pirates need to start sorting through them.