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Pirates Rumors: Talks About Chris Iannetta, Ty Wigginton, Carlos Pena

By Satchel Price

The Pirates continue to be active in trade talks as they hope to become the sole leader of the NL Central. We haven't seen Pittsburgh actively buying at a trade deadline in a very long time, but this appears to be real, people. We'll cover the latest Pirates rumors of the day here, which appear to consist of talks on position players for the most part.

  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports has reported that the Pirates are talking to the Rockies about catcher Chris Iannetta, although names haven't been exchanged yet. The Rox have never really seemed appreciate the 28-year-old Iannetta's skill set, which comes with lots of power and walks but a whole ton of whiffs on top of that, so it's not totally surprising that they're looking into trading him. He's up to 2.4 WAR this year, though, so he's clearly an above-average player at this point. The Rockies also have 22-year-old top prospect Wilin Rosario in Double-A, although his on-base skills are still sketchy at this point.
  • The Pirates also have interest in Colorado's Ty Wigginton, according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post. Wigginton already has 13 homers this season and could potentially give the Pirates an everyday option at third base as well as a utility player capable of playing every infield position other than shortstop. That would likely require the Rockies to go with Ian Stewart for the rest of the season at the hot corner, though, and it remains to be seen whether they're prepared to do that.
  • Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review is reporting that the Pirates match an attempt to acquire first baseman Carlos Pena from the Cubs but were rebuffed. Seems odd given today's earlier report from Jon Heyman that Pena "will surely be moved" but maybe Pittsburgh didn't offer much or the Cubs would prefer to deal Pena outside of the division. Not sure why dealing Pena to the Pirates would be an issue given his one-year deal, though.

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