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High asking prices deterring Pirates

High asking prices deterring Pirates

SAN FRANCISCO — With a little more than two days before the non-waiver trade deadline, indications are that not much has changed in the Pirates’ search for a pitcher.

I continue to hear from those around baseball that while the Pirates are interested in several pitchers, they don’t want to part with much in the way of prospects for them. That’s a problem in this market. There are 21 teams either leading their divisions or within six games of the wild card, and the biggest division lead is five games – the Tigers ahead of the Royals in the NL Central.

The trades that already went down set a high standard for future deals. The Huston Street trade required the Angels to give up their No. 1 and No. 4 prospects in addition to two other minor leaguers. The Cubs got Oakland’s top two prospects – including stud shortstop Addison Russell, Baseball America’s No. 14 overall prospect and fourth in ESPN analyst Keith Law’s midseason rankings – for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. Joakim Soria required the Nos. 5 and 7 prospects from the Tigers’ system.

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This is not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison because farm systems vary in strength, so one No. 5 prospect does not equal another. For the sake of comparison, here are the Pirates’ preseason top 10 prospects according to Baseball America:

1. Gregory Polanco, of

2. Jameson Taillon, rhp

3. Tyler Glasnow, rhp

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4. Austin Meadows, of

5. Nick Kingham, rhp

6. Alen Hanson, ss

7. Josh Bell, of

8. Reese McGuire, c

9. Harold Ramirez, of

10. Luis Heredia, rhp

The Pirates’ front office is not an impulsive group. Based on their previous actions, it doesn’t seem that there is much that will chance their minds in the next 48 hours shy of another injury. Sellers slashing their prices would make a trade more palatable to them, but the level of demand means they might not have to.

First Published: March 24, 2016, 5:08 p.m.

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