Pirates Likely Trading Veteran Starting Pitcher

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have a long offseason with difficult decisions to make regarding their future, including with their most veteran starting pitcher.

Right-handed starting pitcher Mitch Keller is in his seventh season with the Pirates and is the longest tenured player on the team, along with outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

Keller turned 29 years old this season and is now an experienced starting pitcher, known for providing a great workload for his team almost every time he goes out on the mound.

He was also the subject of trade rumors before the recent MLB trade deadline, but the Pirates kept him, despite great interest in Keller.

Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addressed a question in his recent mailbag about whether or not the Pirates will move Keller during the offseason and he thinsk they likely will.

Hiles also mentioned that they most likely would've traded Keller at the deadline, had they got what they wanted, which was an MLB-ready bat and not just prospects for him.

"I think it’s very likely Mitch Keller is traded," Hiles wrote. "If it doesn’t happen, I’d be a bit surprised. The Pirates would’ve traded him in July if the price was right, but as I said before, my understanding is their ideal return would include an established big-league hitter rather than a few prospects. Two teams with known interest in Keller are the Red Sox and Orioles. I think both of those clubs have a handful of players who would fit well on the Pirates roster."

Keller had a strong start to the 2025 season, with a 3.69 ERA over 127.0 innings pitched, 100 strikeouts to 33 walks, a .243 opposing batting average, a 1.20 WHIP and his innings pitched rank tied for 19th most in the MLB.

He also had a 4-10 record at the time, but posted 15 quality starts, tied for the second-most in the MLB. A quality start is when a starting pitcher throws six innings and allows three runs or fewer.