The Pirates kicked off their trade deadline season by dealing Ke’Bryan Hayes to the Reds, and quickly followed it up by sending Caleb Ferguson to the Mariners and David Bednar to the Yankees. On Thursday, with just a few minutes left until the deadline, Bailey Falter followed in a deal with the Royals.
Royals acquiring Bailey Falter
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 31, 2025
Ken Rosenthal had the return for Falter: lefty pitcher Evan Sisk and first baseman Callan Moss. Sisk recently made his MLB debut with the Royals and pitched 5 1/3 innings in relief before being sent down in late May, and Moss is in High-A and unranked in Kansas City’s pipeline.
Minutes later, Rosenthal added that the Pirates were sending Taylor Rogers, who was just acquired in the Hayes trade with the Reds, to his third NL Central team of the year: the Cubs. Pittsburgh will receive outfield prospect Ivan Brethowr from Chicago.
Cubs acquiring reliever Taylor Rogers from Pirates, source tells @TheAthletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2025
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com wrote that Andrew Heaney and Dennis Santana, more rumored trade pieces, will be staying put. Although a few teams always make a couple of deals past the technical 6 PM deadline, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Tommy Pham also seem to be staying where they are.
Pirates trade Bailey Falter to Royals and Taylor Rogers to Cubs, but key trade candidates remain on the board
Only a fraction of the players expected to be gone by Thursday’s deadline have actually been dealt, and with Rogers now shipped off again, the Pirates walk away with zero major-league-ready players (unless you count Sisk) — more specifically, zero bats, which they desperately needed.
Ben Cherington and the Pirates’ front office had a golden opportunity to trade Tommy Pham while he’s inexplicably been batting like an absolute monster. Kiner-Falefa also seemed to have a robust market just a few weeks ago that either disappeared or didn’t warrant a good enough return for the front office.
But there’s no doubt that Cherington let a precious, short window close right in front of his eyes. The Pirates are now down a third baseman, a middle reliever, a closer, a starter, and another reliever with very little to show for it. The lineup will remain mostly unchanged despite Hayes’ new absence, and while Sisk might be able to come up relatively soon, there’s still no helping Pittsburgh’s floundering offense.
Fans never want their team to be sellers, but the Pirates had a golden opportunity to bring in talent for the few strong trade chips they had, and they didn’t seize it.
