Orioles acquire Travis Snider from Pirates

The Orioles and Pirates have struck a deal that will send outfielder Travis Snider to Baltimore in exchange for right-hander Stephen Tarpley and a player to be named later, as first reported by Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports. Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun first reported this afternoon that the sides were in talks about a deal involving Snider.

The O's have been looking for outfield help all winter, shifting their focus to Snider after losing out on trade candidate Matt Kemp and free-agents Nelson Cruz, Nick Markakis, Colby Rasmus, Nori Aoki and Ichiro. Snider was slated to be the Pirates' fourth outfielder behind Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco, but will see more playing time in an Orioles' outfield mix that currently includes David Lough, Steve Pearce, Alejandro De Aza and Delmon Young as options on either side of Adam Jones.

Snider, 28, hit .264/.338/.438 with thirteen home runs and 38 RBI in 140 games for the Pirates last season and will earn $2.1 million in his second season of arbitration next year. He is under team control for two more seasons, not hitting the free agent market until after 2016.

Tarpley, 21, was the Orioles' third-rounder in the 2013 draft and spent last year with Low-A Aberdeen, posting a 3.68 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) on the season. He was recently ranked by Baseball America as the 21st best prospect in the Orioles' organization, and is regarded for his excellent curve and plus fastball.

According to Connolly, left-hander Steven Brault was discussed between the sides before the deal was announced, leading to speculation that he could be the other player in the deal.