Madden Monday: 'At what point are (the Pirates) going to keep their good players?'

As Thursday’s Major League Baseball trade deadline looms, starting pitcher Mitch Keller and closer David Bednar appear to be the Pittsburgh Pirates who would most likely bring a decent return.

Keller has a 3.53 ERA. His 15 quality starts are tied for first in the National League. His 125 innings pitched are sixth. His 1.16 WHIP is 12th. At 29 years old, he’s under a manageable salary that averages $15.4 million through 2028.

Bednar has one more year of arbitration left in 2026. He’s making $5.9 million this year and has 23 consecutive scoreless innings, a 1.50 ERA over his past 38 outings and 16 consecutive saves.

So, it’s understandable why the Pirates might be tempted to dangle either pitcher — or both — for a deal that would yield a few Major League bats in return.

But in this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLIVE says the Pirates should avoid doing that.

“At what point are they going to keep their good players? Not least — keep their good players they still have control over,” Madden said. “Even if it’s a year. Even if it’s arbitration, even if it might cost them a little too much, at what point do they start to keep their good players longer?”

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Madden says moving the team’s second-best starter and top reliever would be counterintuitive for a club that should be trying to add during the limited window that Paul Skenes will be in Pittsburgh.

“If you’re looking to get good in the Skenes era, which doesn’t have too much longer to run, why wouldn’t you keep them?” Madden asked.

“You keep Mitch Keller. You keep David Bednar. Then you spend money on bats in free agency when you don’t have to give anything up in return — when that team isn’t trying to hold on to them for the rest of the season to try to get in the playoff spot. That’s the time to add bats. So why not just do it that way? The answer, of course, is that they don’t want to spend additional money.”

Many people have suggested that the Pirates’ strategy should be to deal a lot of their players who are on expiring contracts — Caleb Ferguson, Andrew Heaney, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Tommy Pham — for prospects. But they’ll attempt to trade Keller and Bednar for Major League bats now.

Madden is dubious of how that will turn out.

“I don’t see the upside in trading Keller … period. I know it would just be for prospects. I know that’s how it would turn out,” Madden said. “I know that’s how this trade deadline is going to turn out. They’re not going to get bats and help them this year and next year.”

Also, in the podcast, Madden and I talk about Steelers training camp, Dave Parker’s Hall of Fame induction, and the deaths of Ozzy Osbourne and Hulk Hogan.