There have been a lot of names thrown out as potential Pirate trade targets in the last couple of weeks, but a few seem to continually rise to the top in fan/media discussion, among them the Astros' Hunter Pence and Jeff Keppinger, the Cubs' Carlos Pena and Aramis Ramirez, and the Royals' Wilson Betemit. How good a fit would any of these players be for PNC Park, though? Here's perhaps a snapshot.
Pence has played 30 games at PNC Park and is hitting for a .330 average and .877 OPS with four home runs. The Pirates have roughly that many home games remaining, so he wouldn't project to be a huge power threat if he were to come on board. Jeff Keppinger falls in the same boat with just two home runs in 28 games at PNC. He is, however, a .264/.745 hitter there, meaning he could still be a solid upgrade on Brandon Wood and Josh Harrison.
Pena has played a very small sample size at PNC, just five games, so it's hard to take anything from his .238/.593 with no home run line. However, as a former Bucco and long time division rival, Ramirez has a long history in Pittsburgh, and it's not as sparkling as you might expect. In 248 career games at PNC, he's hitting just .264/.768 with 39 home runs, an average of one dinger every 6.3 games, which projects to 5-6 home runs the rest of the way. That's not bad, but it's a stark departure from his career line of .284/.838 with home run clip of one every 5.3 games.
Betemit owns a .333/.708 with no home run line at PNC Park in nine games. He can hit for average, but both Wood and Harrison could approach that OPS. To be fair, the sample size is pretty limited and he has a far better career track record than Wood or Harrison, but those are his numbers at PNC Park, nevertheless.
Overall, it would appear all five of these guys could help the Pirates if the front office tries to deal for them. Pence, Keppinger and Ramirez have seen their share of action at PNC and have played relatively well. Pena and Betemit, would require more wait-and-see, but their track records suggest they can hit in larger sample sizes, so their PNC Park numbers should not be a deterrent.