The Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros are close to agreement on a massive three-team trade on Friday afternoon, meaningfully altering the chemistry of each roster. Tampa adds depth, Houston gets another starter, and Pittsburgh — at long last — adds the power bat its lineup so desperately needs.
Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome of The Athletic broke the news. Here are the details.
3-team trade sends Brandon Lowe to Pirates, Mike Burrows to Astros
This trade features a lot of moving parts, but the goals for each team are clear.
Tampa spins Brandon Lowe's expiring contract — plus 29-year-old outfielder Jake Mangum and 25-year-old reliever Mason Montgomery — into 25-year-old outfielder Jacob Melton and 21-year-old starter Anderson Brito, Houston's No. 2 and No. 7 prospects, respectively. This is an effort to get younger and add control.
Houston swaps a couple prospects for an immediate upgrade to the rotation in 26-year-old Mike Burrows, who finished last season with a 3.94 ERA and 1.24 WHIP across 23 appearances (19 starts) for Pittsburgh. Melton's path to regular at-bats was complicated and rotation depth was a huge need for the Astros.
For Pittsburgh, this trade feels like an actual attempt to compete (gasp!). In exchange for Mike Burrows, a back-end starter, the Buccos add an All-Star second baseman, a promising lefty arm in the bullpen, and a depth piece in the outfield. The Pirates needed a marquee bat; Lowe does the trick.
Rays grade: B+
Good business for Tampa, who also received an absolute haul from Baltimore for Shane Baz. Jake Magnum and Mason Montgomery are intriguing pieces, with Mangum looking the part of a replacement-level MLB outfielder. He's quick on the bases, excellent with his glove in left field, and he doesn't strike out much. But he also doesn't generate much power whatsoever. Montgomery posted a 5.67 ERA in 46.0 innings in his first full MLB season.
Lowe, obviously, is a two-time All-Star and one of the best bats in Tampa's lineup, but the 31-year-old's shelf life is limited and he almost certainly wouldn't re-sign next winter.
In return, the Rays add two top-10 prospects from Houston's farm system. Melton didn't do much in his brief MLB cameo last season — .157 AVG and .419 OPS in 70 at-bats — but he generates power to both sides and produces excellent speed on the bases. He should be an everyday outfielder before long, with 20-plus home run potential and solid defensive instincts in left. He needs to tighten his swing mechanics and mitigate strikeouts, but there's a lot of long-term value here.
Brito might be an even more exciting pickup, even if he's less lauded as a prospect. The Rays will need to wait patiently on a return from the 21-year-old, who spent last season in High-A, but his fastball touches the high-90s and he weaponizes four legitimate pitches. There are durability concerns at 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds, but Brito has the stuff to occupy a regular rotation spot for Tampa within a few years.
Astros grade: C
Houston needed a starter. Burrows can come in and deliver 30 starts as a back-end option if healthy. Melton, for all his talent, didn't have a clear path to at-bats on a roster that already needs to incorporate Yordan Álvarez, Jesús Sánchez, Zach Cole, Jake Meyers and Cam Smith.
That said, this is the least inspiring outcome from this deal. Burrows offers control and upside at 26, but he wasn't lights-out as a rookie. The fastball is middling at best; he can generate positive results with his off-speed mix, but Burrows profiles most comfortably as a fourth or fifth starter on a competitive team. Coughing up two top-10 prospects, including a more gifted (if slightly more volatile) righty in Brito, constitutes a heavy toll.
Burrows is still developing, of course. He generates enough swing-and-miss to look ahead with optimism. With Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter all working through Tommy John rehab, the Astros needed bullets in the rotation. Burrows qualifies, and even a back-end starter with six years of club control carries significant value nowadays. So this isn't a bad trade for Houston, just a bit meh.
Pirates grade: A
At its core, this is a short-term investment for Pittsburgh. Lowe's contract expires at the end of the season and he's unlikely to re-sign — although the Pirates' reported four-year, $120 million offer to Kyle Schwarber does instill some hope for a reunion. The front office can spend the necessary dough, if motivated.
Even if this is a rental, though, it figures to pay dividends. Lowe finished last season with a .785 OPS and 116 OPS+. He's not a perfect fit necessarily, but it's difficult to overstate the gap between Lowe and Nick Yorke or Marco Luciano. There are valid plate discipline concerns with Lowe, Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds atop the lineup, but this Pirates lineup desperately needs to generate more pop. Lowe hit 31 home runs last season and has a single-season career high of 39.
He's a middling glove at best — and that's generous — but he's tucked away at second base and Pittsburgh could have open at-bats in the DH spot this season. Plus, the Pirates' pitching staff generates plenty of swing-and-miss, so some of those defensive concerns are mitigated.
In addition to Lowe, Pittsburgh takes an intriguing bullpen swing on Mason Montgomery. He punches triple-digits on his fastball and generated strikeouts in the 90th percentile last season. Command was a crippling issue for Montgomery as a rookie, but the stuff is electric and he's 25. Pittsburgh typically develops its pitchers; that's one of the few positive hallmarks of the organization.
Mangum is probably a backup outfielder or a fringe starter at the end of the day, but he's under club control through 2031. Pittsburgh should benefit from his glove and other ancillary skills, even if he never really pops at the plate.
Mangum and Montgomery are both the sort of controllable upside swings that make the Lowe rental more palatable. The Pirates need to start acting like a serious team while Paul Skenes is still a long-term asset. Trading excess pitching for a real bat is good business for this Pittsburgh team, as Bubba Chandler, Hunter Barco and other top pitching prospects can quickly paper over Burrows' departure.