Pirates acquire LF Bryan De La Cruz, INF Isiah Kiner-Falefa, trade LHP Martin Perez to Padres

With the Pittsburgh Pirates two games back in wild-card standings, general manager Ben Cherington wanted to give them a chance to contend by adding players who can impact the team this season and beyond.

After dealing for left-handed reliever Jalen Beeks on Monday night, Cherington swung a trio of 11th-hour deals of the 6 p.m. trade deadline Tuesday by acquiring a pair of right-handed hitters in outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from the Miami Marlins and versatile infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Toronto Blue Jays and sending starting pitcher Martin Perez to the San Diego Padres in moves that involved minor-league prospects.

De La Cruz addresses the Pirates’ most pressing need, a corner outfielder with some pop to improve their offense, whereas Kiner-Falefa can fill the void created at second base with Nick Gonzales (groin) on the injured list. Both are under club control beyond the 2024 season, as De La Cruz is eligible for arbitration in 2025 and doesn’t become a free agent until 2028 and Kiner-Falefa has another year remaining on his contract, at $7.5 million for 2025.

“We think we’ve improved the team between now and the end of the season,” Cherington said on a video conference call. “It was also a goal to help put us in a goal to be also stronger past ’24, stronger in the offseason, stronger into ’25. We think this combination of moves helps accomplish that.”

De La Cruz, 27, is batting .245/.289/.417 with 19 doubles, 18 home runs and 51 RBIs with 118 strikeouts and 25 walks in 105 games this season. He has split his time between playing left field (47 starts) and designated hitter (50 starts), with eight games in right field. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound De La Cruz has a career .258/.305/.419 slash line, with personal bests of 32 doubles, 19 homers and 78 RBIs in 2023.

“Younger, still relatively young corner outfielder with power who’s produced in not an easy place to hit in Miami, bigger ballpark,” Cherington said. “He has real physical ability, big power, solid defender in the corners.”

The 5-11, 190-pound Kiner-Falefa, 29, is batting .292/.338/.420 with eight doubles, two triples, seven homers and 33 RBIs in 82 games this season. He started 35 games at third base, 27 at second base and 11 at shortstop for the Blue Jays. The seven-year veteran, who also has played for the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, has a career slash line of .264/.317/.354 and is a three-time winner of his team’s Heart and Hustle Award.

“This is a guy who is a premium defender at multiple spots on the field,” Cherington said. “He’s been a good offensive producer. Certainly this year he’s been a really good offensive producer. Exceptional reputation as a teammate, winning player, can play all over the field.”

In exchange for De La Cruz, the Pirates sent a pair of top-20 prospects to the Marlins in 20-year-old right-hander Jun-Seok Shim (No. 17 by MLB Pipeline) and corner infielder Garret Forrester (No. 18). The return for Kiner-Falefa was Double-A infielder/outfielder Charles McAdoo, ranked their No. 10 prospect by Baseball America.

The 6-4, 215-pound Shim, signed from South Korea, had 13 strikeouts in eight innings over four starts in the Florida Complex League last year but is on the 60-day injured list with a right shoulder injury this season. Forrester, 22, a 2023 third-round pick out of Oregon State, batted .273/.413/.382 with nine doubles, one homer and nine RBIs at Low-A Bradenton before being promoted to High-A Greensboro. McAdoo, 22, batted .315/.394/.538 with 21 doubles, five triples, 14 homers and 63 RBIs this season, split between Greensboro and Double-A Altoona.

The Pirates signed Perez to a one-year, $8 million deal in the offseason, and the 33-year-old left-hander was 2-5 with a 5.20 ERA and 1.65 WHIP in 83 innings over 16 starts, including five quality starts, and missed a month with a left groin strain.

In return, the Pirates received 18-year-old pitcher Ronaldys Jimenez, a 5-11, 165-pound lefty who had a 1.50 ERA and 0.67 WHIP in six innings over three starts in the Dominican Summer League.

Earlier Tuesday, the Pirates acquired left-handed reliever Josh Walker from the New York Mets for a prospect.

The 6-6, 225-pound Walker, who was designated for assignment July 26, has elite extension and a three-pitch arsenal that features a curveball, four-seam fastball and sinker. Walker had a 5.11 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 12 1/3 innings over 10 appearances in the majors this season. He also had a 2.83 ERA and 1.29 WHIP with a .157 batting average against in 25 appearances for Triple-A Syracuse. Walker, 29, will report to Triple-A Indianapolis.

The Pirates sent 18-year-old lefty Nicolas Carreno to the Mets in return for Walker. Carreno is 0-1 with a 3.74 ERA and 1.29 WHIP, 36 strikeouts, 17 walks and five hit batsmen in 21 2/3 innings over eight starts in the Dominican Summer League.

The Pirates also swapped top-30 minor-league prospects with the Baltimore Orioles, trading 22-year-old right-hander Patrick Reilly for outfielder/second baseman Billy Cook. The 25-year-old Cook, a right-handed hitter ranked No. 28 in the Orioles’ system by MLB Pipeline, batted .279/.372/.485 with 15 doubles, three triples, 11 homers and 43 RBIs in 70 games at Triple-A Norfolk. Reilly, a 2023 fifth-round pick out of Vanderbilt, was 5-4 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.16 WHIP, 108 strikeouts, 41 walks and 14 home runs allowed in 88 innings over 19 starts at Greensboro.

On Monday, Cherington traded right-handed pitcher Quinn Priester to the Boston Red Sox for Triple-A second baseman/left fielder Nick Yorke, who was sent to Triple-A Indianapolis, and acquired lefty reliever Jalen Beeks from the Colorado Rockies for Double-A lefty reliever Luis Peralta.

“We believe we found deals that made sense for us,” Cherington said. “Time will tell. That’s the fun part of it. Now we all get to see what happens, see how it all plays out, and we’ll look back and either feel good or we’ll criticize ourselves. That’s the nature of the game. Some of it’s patience, but it’s more just process. It’s the work that the people in the (baseball operations) room put in to help us identify where those opportunities are, how we might match up, who are the players who fit the best, who might have a skill that we can turn up or whatever it is. Through that process, it does sometimes require patience. But we feel like we landed in a good spot.”