The 2010 Major League Baseball trade deadline is just under a month away with the deadline being its customary date of July 31st on a yearly basis.

Over the next month I will try and tackle every Major League team as the deadline approaches to see if they will be buyers, sellers or stick to their current roster.

I will be basing my assumptions on the direction the team is going, their record as of the date I post the article, possible roster injuries and so on and so forth.

I will provide the information about each team by division.

I began with the National League East’s Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins & Washington Nationals.

I began my look at the NL Central last week with the Cincinnati Reds, St.Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and continued yesterday with the Houston Astros.

Today I will move onto the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates completed their first half of the season in disappointing fashion yet again with a record of 30-58, which places them last in the NL Central, eighteen games out of first place.

The Pirates are the owners of seventeen straight losing seasons and the 2010 season looks to add to that total as the small market team attempts to reshape the franchise, returning it to its glory days of the early 90’s.

The team focused on acquiring veterans in the off-season to add to a young nucleus of players. General manager Neal Huntington signed low risk, high reward players to short term contracts. Players such as Bobby Crosby (one year, $1 million), Brendan Donnelly (one year, $1.35 million), D.J. Carrasco (one year, $950,000), Javier Lopez (one year, $775,000), Ryan Church (one year, $1.5 million) & aging veteran closer Octovio Dotel (one year, $3.5 million contract with a club option for 2011 worth $4.5 million with a $500,000 buyout).

The team also made the surprising move of acquiring second baseman Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays, adding payroll to a team trying to save funds.

The additions were made to help fortify a bullpen that needed some major help, as well as provide stop gaps and add veterans with knowledge of the game to a group of young players.

The moves have not paid off very well with Iwamura currently playing high priced baseball for the Pirates Triple A affiliate Indianapolis Indians after being designated for assignment June 16th while Crosby, Donnelly & Church have struggled for the team.

The small budget Pirates ($39,068,000) have traded away numerous pieces over the past few seasons in Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Demaso Marte, Nate McLouth, Freddy Sanchez, Nyjer Morgan, Jack Wilson & Ian Snell just to name a few in an attempt to stock their farm system full of budding prospects as the team hopes to turn things around for the franchise via player development.

The team added some excellent talent via trade such as Jose Tabata & Tim Alderson and have drafted well over the years in acquiring players such as Andrew McCutchen & Pedro Alvarez as the team looks to build around talented youngsters similar to the way Tampa Bay & the Colorado Rockies built their currently successful teams.

Andrew McCutchen is a star for the Pirates

The future is bright for the Pirates with players such as McCutchen, Alvarez, Tabata & Alderson set to lead the way as the team continues to draft well, having taken big time high school arm Jameson Taillon in the first round of this season’s draft.

With the bright future can the Pirates return to prominence amongst the NL elite once again?

Only time will tell.

So where does that leave the Pirates come the July 31st trade deadline?

The team is most likely out of the running to contend for the playoffs, although hope will never rest for fans of the franchise, but the team may want to trade away the veterans on the team in exchange for more farm system talent as that seems to be the protocol for the Pirates.

Catcher Ryan Doumit (.260, 8HR, 31RBI) & Dotel (2-2, 4.89ERA, 19SV in 24SVO) might be their most attractive trade chips as both are veterans who could aid teams in playoff contention.

Doumit’s name circulated in trade talks prior to the season and his salary of $5.1 million in 2011 may be too pricey for a team such as the Pirates.

The Boston Red Sox are in desperate need of catching help with Victor Martinez (fracture in thumb) & Jason Varitek (broken right foot) both done for some time. The team is currently using a combination of Kevin Cash & Gustavo Molina at the position, but if the team wants to contend they will need more production than what they receive from that duo. Doumit sounds like an expensive fill in option, but he has the ability to play multiple positions for the team such as the outfield or first base once one of the regular catchers returns to play and his left handed bat would be potent at Fenway Park with their short right field fence.

The Pirates have a future catcher in waiting in Tony Sanchez and could use Jason Jaramillo & Erik Kratz at the catching position if Doumit is traded, as they await the development of Sanchez.

Surely the Pirates could nab a couple of decent prospects from the Red Sox for Doumit’s services or even manage to pry the likes of first base prospect Anthony Rizzo away from them, as the Pirates could add a legitimate first base prospect to their farm system ranks.

Dotel could appeal to numerous teams as he has proven in the past, especially last season with the Chicago White Sox, that he is a reliable backend piece to any bullpen. He is getting up there in age turning 37 later this year, but when playoff races begin to develop teams will want strong bullpens.

The New York Yankees are always looking for bullpen help, especially with Joba Chamberlain struggling this season and Alfredo Aceves having a hard time recovering from a bulging disc in his back. Dotel is familiar with the Yankees, struggling with them in 2006, but that was the only poor season of his career and maybe a re-visit would prove differently.

The Pirates and Yankees have also negotiated deals before (Nady/Marte trade) so the two teams can surely be expected to contact one another in regards to players such as Dotel.

The Pirates should not expect a ton in return for Dotel (Jesus Montero is out of the question), but perhaps they could pick up some nice under the radar pieces such as left handed starter Jeremy Bleich (3-2, 4.79ERA @ Double A Trenton) or former highly touted prospect in shortstop Eduardo Nunez (.305, 3HR, 40RBI, 18SB @ Triple A Scranton-Wilkes Barre).

The Pirates should also be shopping Lopez, Carrasco, Donnelly, Crosby & Church although it is doubtful that anyone but Lopez & Carrasco will draw much attention as Donnelly (3-1, 5.33ERA), Crosby (.236, 1HR, 11RBI) & Church (.186, 3HR, 16RBI) are all having poor seasons. Even if they do draw attention the Pirates can expect a very small return (perhaps a low level prospect) for either.

As most seasons in years past the Pirates should be selling pieces at the trade deadline with Doumit & Dotel the most likely to move in my opinion.

If the Pirates can continue to add players to their already developing and ample farm system the team’s future may be bright, which is what fans of the team are hoping for, having waited so long to finally record a winning season.

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