Jared Jones injury update could make Pirates selling inevitable

The Pittsburgh Pirates have hung around the .500 mark for much of the season in large part because of their starting pitching.

The trio consisting of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, and Jared Jones is both young and dominant and gave Pirates fans reason to believe that if they made the right upgrades at the trade deadline, they could be a serious threat in October. I mean, who wants to face that three-headed monster in a short series?

Not only did the Pirates just lose their second straight series, but they were dealt a major blow with Jones suffering an injury. A stint on the IL felt inevitable when he was pulled early from his latest start, but the injury update Pittsburgh gave is far from encouraging.

Jared Jones' injury could force the Pirates to sell at the trade deadline

It's going to be at the very least two weeks before Jones even starts to throw again. Even if he doesn't have to deal with any setbacks, there's a good chance Jones will have to go out on a rehab assignment to get worked back up. A return in July would be ideal, but that's far from a given.

On the one hand, this injury is a bit of a blessing in disguise as it will help limit Jones' innings, but on the other hand, the Pirates will have a tough time winning without him.

Jones has been overshadowed by Skenes but has had a phenomenal rookie season in his own right, posting a 3.56 ERA in 16 starts and 91 innings of work. Not only has he displayed terrific strikeout stuff, but he's done an exceptional job of limiting walks, which was his major issue in the minor leagues.

Despite how well Jones has pitched, Pittsburgh has only gone 7-9 in his starts. A big reason for that has to do with run support or lack thereof. Offense has been an issue for this Pirates team that ranks 25th in runs scored, tied for 24th in home runs, and 28th in OPS. The only teams worse than them in both categories are the 30-57 Marlins and the 25-64 White Sox.

This Pirates team might be able to squeak into the postseason if they upgrade their offense, but they won't be buyers until we get closer to deadline day. For them to be buyers, they'd have to remain in the race.

Pittsburgh only has a 7.1 percent chance to make the postseason according to FanGraphs, and that's before Jones misses any starts. Those slim odds make them look like likely sellers already, and now going from Jones to a depth starter should only make it harder for them to win games. Perhaps the Pirates can remain in the hunt, but it'd take a massive turnaround from their offense for that to be the case.