According to Jayson Stark, the Pirates are reportedly looking to make an upgrade over Pedro Alvarez, but may face some difficulty in doing so.
Follow-up to that #Pirates tidbit: 1B market is so thin, don't see how they upgrade. Lind, Morse, Trumbo, Chris Johnson aren't upgrades
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 21, 2015
For the most part, the players on that list would certainly not be an improvement over Alvarez, but Adam Lind seemingly would be.
PA | HR | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adam Lind | 341 | 15 | .285 | .370 | .500 | .374 | 137 | 2.0 |
Pedro Alvarez | 300 | 12 | .233 | .300 | .419 | .305 | 95 | -0.4 |
Apart from their home run totals, Lind appears to be a significant upgrade over Alvarez, as his BA, OBP, SLG, wOBA, wRC+ and fWAR are all better. While Lind might be a possibility for first base, there aren't any concrete rumors that connect the two parties. However the Pirates have reached out to ask on the availability of Cliff Pennington, Clint Barmes, and Ben Zobrist.
Bill Brink writes that, "multiple sources have said the pirates have some degree of interest in Zobrist" but "because of Zobrist's value -- multiple positions, expiring contract, switch-hitter -- he is said to be in high demand from several teams".
Since returning from injury, Zobrist's production has picked back up, but it may cost too much for the Pirates to be truly interested. Neal Huntington has already said he's unwilling to overpay for anyone just to win now, which might ultimately rule them out of the Zobrist sweepstakes.
Pennington and Barmes are much more attainable, and wouldn't cost anywhere near the prospects that Zobrist would. Aaron Hill is another Diamondbacks player that seems to have been made available by the front office, and could potentially be a Pirates target.