3 trade targets from the Pittsburgh Pirates for the Colorado Rockies

Pittsburgh Pirates reliever David Bednar could help the Colorado Rockies bullpen

David Bednar had a very good first full season in the majors for the Pittsburgh Pirates and, with the bullpen issues for the Colorado Rockies in recent years, Bednar could be a good reliever for them.

Bednar, 27, was acquired by the Pirates from the San Diego Padres last January in the three-team deal that sent Joe Musgrove to the Padres. He only made 17 appearances in the majors with the Padres in 2019 and 2020 with little success (6.75 ERA) but he was very good for the Pirates.

He made 61 appearances and he had an ERA of 2.23 (190 ERA+). He had a FIP of 2.69, a sub-1.00 WHIP (0.973 to be exact), and he averaged 2.8 walks and 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Rockies have seen success (especially at Coors Field) in their rotation due to their high groundball rate. The bullpen, though, has not had a high gorundball rate, which is part of the reason why they have struggled so much at Coors Field. Bednar’s groundball rate in 2021 was 41.4 percent, which is a little bit below league average but with the high strikeout rate, it may not be a huge problem.

Like with Reynolds, Bednar is not even eligible for arbitration yet so while his salary would be cheap, he would not be cheap to get for a trade because his controllability.