Pirates trade for Dickerson, sign Siegrist

On Thursday, the Pirates announced a trade for Corey Dickerson, sending reliever Daniel Hudson, minor league second baseman Tristan Gray, and $1M in cash to the Tampa Bay Rays.

This move comes over a month after sending Andrew McCutchen to the Giants. The trade essentially solidifies the outfield for opening day, and barring any major injuries, the whole season.

Dickerson brings an additional power threat from the right side of the plate. In the three seasons that Dickerson has played in at least 130 games, he has hit 24 homeruns in 2014 and 2016, and he hit 27 last season. The other two seasons of his career were his rookie season in 2013 (69 games), and an injury-riddled 2015 season (65 games). In terms of production at the plate, the move from Tropicana Field to PNC Park will be minimal so we can hope to expect a similar yield from Dickerson in 2018.

This was a move that should peak the interest of Bucs fans. The addition of Dickerson helps replace the production McCutchen brought to the lineup last season. Dickerson had a slash line of .282/.325/.490 (Batting Average, On Base Percentage, Slugging), while McCutchen put up .279/.363/.486. Look for Dickerson to provide more stability defensively in the outfield as well. He is an upgrade in left field compared to where the aging McCutchen is at this point in his career. In terms of 2017 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), Dickerson seamlessly fills the 2.5 WAR Andrew McCutchen posted with his own of 2.7.

Strikeouts and drawing walks have been weak points thus far in Dickerson’s career. For perspective, Dickerson struck out almost 6% more, and walked 38 less times than McCutchen last year when comparing sample sizes.

It will be interesting to see what kind of role the 2017 AL All-Star can carve out in Pittsburgh. He is due $5.95 million this year, and will enter his last arbitration year in 2019 before becoming an unrestricted free-agent in 2020 via Spotrac.com.

The Pirates also added a bullpen arm yesterday morning, signing reliever Kevin Siegrist to a minor league contract with a spring training invite.

Much like the Dickerson trade, the addition of Siegrist is intriguing. Siegrist pitched in 39.1 innings last year for the Cardinals and Phillies. He struggled posting an ERA of 4.81, and allowing 22 walks.

The upside to this signing shouldn’t be ignored though. Siegrist was a very reliable and, at times, a dominant set-up man for the Cardinals from 2015-2016. Through 136.1 innings, He posted a 2.44 ERA, 1.137 WHIP, and struck out 10.3 batters per 9 innings pitched. The good news is that Siegrist still struck out batters at a high rate in 2017.

If he can stay healthy and Ray Searage can work his magic, Kevin Siegrist could end up securing the left handed set-up role for the Bucs. He will compete with Steven Brault, Jack Leathersich, and Josh Smoker as the only left handed pitchers on the roster not named Felipe Rivero.

Note: All stats compiled from baseballreference.com.