Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, manager Clint Hurdle and others were in a meeting Wednesday that dealt with how to approach the MLB trade deadline which comes at the end of the month. One point they discussed was the potential impact of players who are returning from injury.
Part of the time was devoted to identifying when various players should be ready to come off the disabled list and determining how those moves would affect the current roster. With as many as eight injured players potentially being ready to return over the next month, the Pirates might be able to fill particular areas of need internally.
The Pirates are right to note that some of their biggest improvements could come from within, as players like Pedro Alvarez get back from the disabled list. It's strange - it seems like all Pirates fans have talked about recently are winning, and injuries.
The fact that so many players will be returning fairly soon (Alvarez, Jose Tabata, Ronny Cedeno, perhaps Ryan Doumit and Joe Beimel) suggests that the Pirates are unlikely to make splashy moves at the deadline. They might not have done it anyway, despite the fact that they're surprise contenders this year, because they don't want to mortgage their future. But it seems particularly unlikely if they feel like they can improve from within.