Should the Pirates trade Hanrahan?

In the offseason, the hot rumor surrounding the Pirates involved closer Joel Hanrahan. Many in the industry thought Hanrahan would be moved sometime this season because he was about to become cost prohibitive for the low-budget Buccos. Hanrahan is making a whopping $4.1 million dollars in his second year of arbitration. He still has another year of team control, but as he's on pace for another 40-save season, his price tag will likely be way above $5 million. That's an awful lot of money to pay a reliever, especially when you've got solid in-house options to replace him (Grilli, Lincoln). Plus, GM Neal Huntington has done a masterful job assembling bullpens the last few years, so there's no reason to think he can't find one or two additional options on the open market.

Still, with the Pirates in contention, Huntington has hinted that he prefers to keep his All-Star closer for the stretch run. That seemed to quiet the trade talk until Tom Singer innocently mentioned a couple of days ago that he heard that Hanrahan might be able to net the Pirates two major league bats. This set off a firestorm of chatter on the internet about whether this meant Huntington was shopping Hanrahan and if they thought the big flamethrower should or should not be traded.

Here's my take: Huntington is likely not shopping his closer, but is reluctant to pay for Hanrahan beyond this year so is keeping an open mind about the situation and weighing his options. It's clear the Pirates would like to add one more bat before the trade deadline next Tuesday and it's possible Hanrahan could allow the Pirates to do so without giving up the farm, so to speak. It certainly helps that both Jason Grilli and Brad Lincoln have emerged as potential replacements for Hanrahan. That was clearly on display Saturday night in Houston when Lincoln pitched a scoreless eighth and Grilli followed with a clean ninth to secure a close win on a day Hanrahan was unavailable. Grilli put up All-Star worthy numbers in the first half, has a mid-90s fastball and a wicked slider. Lincoln's got similar velocity with a devastating curve and has a relief ERA barely over a half a run. Plus, he has looked stellar in pressure situations.

I would absolutely be open to the idea of trading Hanrahan, especially for a bat that was under team control through next season. In fact, if the front office wants to get a piece that's more than just a rental, they may need to shed some payroll. Including Hanrahan in such a trade could kill two birds with one stone. Obviously, Hanrahan is a very valuable commodity and could be moved in the offseason, so the deal would have to be significant; but in the right trade, I think it makes perfect sense for Huntington to trade The Hammer for an impact bat.