In today's Pirates rumors and news update, the Pittsburgh Pirates are one of three teams seriously pursuing San Diego Padres reliever Joaquin Benoit as the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline approaches.
According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, "the Tigers, Pirates and Indians are showing interest in Padres reliever Joaquin Benoit, though a trade of Benoit isn't quite a certainty."
Heyman believes that the Pirates' interest in Benoit would be as a setup man for current closer Mark Melancon, using him as insurance if Melancon needs to be replaced during the stretch run.
While the San Diego Padres received a very nice trade package from the Angels for closer Huston Street, they'd be hard-pressed to match such a haul for Benoit. Benoit has been electric himself, but isn't widely regarded as a closer, and thus isn't being assessed the same type of value, on the trade market.
The Padres could be hesitant to trade away Benoit as well, seeing that the back of their bullpen would have lost both its 8th inning and 9th inning specialists in the span of a week or so.
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