The Pirates have been sinking for six weeks and, now, according to a source, they've begun the process of selling off.
An American League team executive with direct knowledge told DKPittsburghSports.com Saturday afternoon during the 7-2 loss to the Diamondbacks at PNC Park that Neal Huntington is "open for business" -- the exec's term, not Huntington's -- in listening to trade offers on Francisco Cervelli, Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer, David Freese and ... Corey Dickerson?
Yeah, I had the same reaction.
The only other information I culled from the conversation: Mercer isn't likely to be moved based on Huntington's current asking price of a top-seven prospect, though that obviously could be changed.
Cervelli and Harrison are anything but a surprise. I reported earlier this month that both would be the most likely to go, based primarily on being the Pirates' highest-paid players, Cervelli at $10.5 million, Harrison at $10 million. Also, Cervelli's value has never been higher, although there are health issues, as he's having an All-Star caliber first half at .257/.390/.486, and Harrison continues to perform at career norms at .272/.315/.385.
Mercer isn't expensive per shortstop standards, at $6.75 million, but his contract will expire after this season, and the Pirates apparently don't intend to keep him from going to free agency, since they're confident in their minor-league prospects at the position.
Freese is 35, he's at .257/.331/.404, and he's in the final guaranteed year of a contract that pays $4.25 million in salary plus $500,000 if his 2019 club option of $6 million is bought out, which it almost surely would be. On a bench that's already obscenely overpaying .149-batting Sean Rodriguez at $5.75 million -- he couldn't be traded in any form, obviously -- and one that still needs space for Jung Ho Kang and Jose Osuna, this one isn't a surprise, either.
Dickerson ... that's decidedly different than all of the above.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOHe's 29, and he, like Cervelli, is having an All-Star caliber first half at .302/.336/.453. He and rookie Colin Moran, both acquired in offseason trades by Huntington, have been the team's most pleasant surprises. But he's also in an 9-for-45 slump over his past dozen games, he's drawn only 11 walks in 276 plate appearances, and he hasn't homered since May 4. Maybe more ominous, he followed a similar first half last summer with a nosedive in the second that was so dramatic the Rays basically handed him to the Pirates by accepting combustible reliever Daniel Hudson and his $5.5 million contract.
Huntington has long spoken of the value of selling high, so it's possible that Dickerson could be the odd man out of an outfield that has Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and now Austin Meadows. Dickerson, making $5.95 million with another year of arbitration remaining, has his contract under team control through the 2019 season, Marte through 2021, Polanco through 2023 and Meadows through 2024 at the earliest.
The loss to first-place Arizona was the Pirates' fifth in six games. Since reaching a season-high nine games over .500 on May 17, they've lost 23 of their past 33, the worst mark in Major League Baseball in that time.
Based on talks I had with three veterans after this game, the clubhouse sounded wholly aware major change could come soon if performance doesn't change soon. And maybe even if it does.
"Obviously, it's something in the back of your mind," Mercer said of the possibility of being traded. "I've been here long enough. I've seen guys come and go. But all you can do is control what you can control, continue to play hard, like I've been doing. I'll let all the other stuff take care of itself."
The trade deadline is July 31.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Pirates vs. Diamondbacks, PNC Park, June 23, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS