(Photo by Gene J. Puskar/AP)

On trade deadline day, the Pirates roster experienced several more shake ups as Pittsburgh was, once again, a seller. Rich Hill, Ji-Man Choi, Rodolfo Castro, and Austin Hedges are all gone. 

The Pirates dealt Hill and Choi early on in the day, while news broke about Hedges and Castro much closer to the final moments of the deadline. 

I have a feeling one of these moves will be cheered on by many in the Buccos fan base, while the others will be looked at with more scrutiny. 

But let’s take a quick look at each trade Pittsburgh made today:

To San Diego: LHP Rich Hill, 1B/DH Ji-Man Choi

To Pittsburgh: 1B Alfonso Rivas, LHP Jackson Wolf, OF Estuar Suero 

The biggest trade of the day for the Pirates, they dealt a starting pitcher in Hill  and their main first baseman (who just became the main guy after the Santana trade) in Choi to the San Diego Padres. Both Hill and Choi are on expiring deals. 

For San Diego, who appeared to maybe be sellers just a few days ago, it’s a move to bolster two needs and simultaneously tell the fans that they aren’t giving up the season. 

The Padres, 52-55, have been massively disappointing this season, and have teetered on the edge of buyer-seller status. But Hill, baseball’s oldest pro player, and Choi, might help boost the Padres down the stretch as they hope to make a playoff push. 

As for the Pirates, they receive three players back in the deal. The first man back is Rivas, who likely will be up in the majors with the Pirates momentarily. He hasn’t played much this season, just 8 games with the Padres where he is batting an even .200. 

But given the Pirates’ now strikingly thin depth at first base, Rivas is likely now a stopgap at first base and will see a bump in playing time. Last season for the Chicago Cubs, where he played in 101 games, Rivas recorded a .235 batting average with 25 RBIs and three homers. 

In addition to Rivas, the Pirates also acquired two young prospects. Jackson Wolf made his MLB debut just a few weeks ago at 24 years old. Standing at an intimidating 6’ 7, Wolf has very impressive strikeout numbers, including striking out 105 batters in 18 Double-A starts this year. 

Estuar Suero, much like Jhonny Severino from the Santana trade, is a lottery ticket type of player. He’s incredibly young and it will be years before we see if he can pan out at the major league level. 

But given the recent trade history between the Pirates and Padres, there’s room for optimism for all three of these guys. 

To Texas: C Austin Hedges

To Pittsburgh: International cap space

Not a lot to say about this one. Pirates fans will shout from the rooftops that Austin Hedges is gone. For the Rangers, they get a catcher who is great at pitch framing, but has had an absolutely abysmal time batting. 

Hedges is batting  .180 over 161 at bats, and his departure will only increase the catching time available for Endy Rodriguez, who fans and the organization are very high on. 

His struggles at the plate have been very well documented all season, and despite his framing and some of the defensive metrics, his depressing batting stats made the return value quite low. But I think the Pirates would have taken a bag of peanuts for Hedges at this point.

To Philadelphia: INF Rodolfo Castro

To Pittsburgh: LHP Bailey Falter

Putting aside how incredibly fitting that the Pirates would acquire a player with the last name Falter at this point in the season, the lefty from Philly has had a pretty rough season on the mound. 

Falter is 0-7 with a 5.13 ERA in 8 starts for Philly this year. His last start in the majors came all the way back in mid-May. Since then, Falter has been in Lehigh Valley, Philly’s Triple-A affiliate. In 11 starts there, he put up a 4.21 ERA and a 2-1 record. 

The Phillies got Castro in the deal, a 21 year old infielder who played 78 games for the Pirates this season. However, with the logjam of players in the infield for Pittsburgh, Castro at times found it tough to break through within the team. He was batting .228 with the Pirates, with 22 RBIs and 6 home runs. 

Interesting side note: Castro hit a homer off Falter back in August of 2022.