The Pittsburgh Pirates fielding offers for Jack Suwinski might not sound like such a big deal. He's appeared in just 27 games for the Pirates this season and is hitting .109 while striking out in 41.1 percent of his plate appearances. However, when finding out that the Tampa Bay Rays are the team expressing interest in the outfielder, well, that's where deja vu starts to kick in.
Crazy Pirates trade rumor: The Tampa Bay Rays have expressed interest in…
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) July 29, 2025
Jack Suwinski.
Suwinski is hitting .109 with 1 HR. He hit 26 HR in 2023. pic.twitter.com/bPoCi82PFx
Not only have the Rays taken on countless reclamation projects over the years and gotten the most out of them, but they've fleeced the Pirates in the not-too-distant past. Remember the Chris Archer trade? Yeah, that still stings. The Pirates traded Tyler Glasnow, Shane Baz and Austin Meadows to the Rays in exchange for Archer, a star in Tampa Bay who was nothing short of a disaster in Pittsburgh.
I'm not here to say a Suwinski trade is that big of a deal, but the Pirates sending him to the Rays could certainly backfire.
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Rays could be the team to get the most out of Jack Suwinski
It's easy to forget that just a couple of seasons ago, Suwinski looked like a core piece for the Pirates. He slashed .224/.339/.454 with 26 home runs and 74 RBI in 144 games in 2023, and even chipped in with 13 stolen bases. Yes, the strikeouts were alarming, but he was getting on base a good amount and displayed tremendous power.
He's struggled mightily in the two years since his breakout, but he's still just 27 years of age, and has three more years of club control. I'm not saying the Pirates should be committing to him as part of their future, and if they can get something meaningful for him, it'd be foolish not to consider a trade. But trading him to the Rays of all teams would just be a hard pill to swallow.
Pirates fans have seen the Rays fleece Pittsburgh before, and they've also seen the Rays make the most out of reclamation projects. Suwinski has struggled mightily in recent years, but looked like a potential future star just a couple of years ago. Gifting a player with his talent to Tampa Bay feels like setting themselves up for disaster. And besides, it's not like Pittsburgh's hitting development team is doing a bang-up job right now.