Although the most glaring need on the Pirates right now is in Right Field, it is important to also upgrade the bench at the trade deadline too. Right now on any given night, the bench available to Clint Hurdle is Gaby Sanchez, Michael McKenry, Travis Snider, Brandon Inge, and Clint Barmes.
All of those range from awful to avert-your-eyes-awful. Neal Huntington may have some in-house upgrades at his disposal in the form of Tony Sanchez (backup catcher) and Andrew Lambo (5th OF, 1B). But a player who help immediately would be Kevin Frandsen of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Frandsen is 31, so he's plenty old enough for Clint Hurdle to play him in the field. He plays 2B, 3B, and SS -- or at least he's capable enough of standing there -- so he can replicate what Inge is doing for this team. Plus, unlike Inge, he's capable of hitting a baseball with a wooden bat.
Right now Frandsen is hitting .295/.380/.440 (820 OPS) with 3 HR. The great thing about Frandsen is his strikeout rate is 11.0%, which is actually the highest of his career, so he's a good contact hitter that can put it in play and move runners over.
The interesting thing about Frandsen is that he's a failed Giant prospect that has bounced around in his career. He's only had two decent years (2012 and 2013 with the Phillies) in his spotty career, so he still has 2 additional years of control after 2013. He only makes $850,000 in his arb-1 year in 2013, so there's no real monetary cost to obtain him.
Because of the years of control and the fact that he's a 1.0 WAR player, the Pirates would have to give up something of note. Perhaps Chase d'Arnaud or Josh Harrison plus a pitcher like Joely Rodriguez would do the trick.
Huntington clearly must know how awful his bench is right now, so I imagine that he's at least been reviewing tape of Frandsen. I'd love to see him take the Turnpike over to the Steel City.
