Hayes has some interesting tools, but ultimately this is another rumor that is impossible to believe.
With a month left before the trade deadline in Major League Baseball, we’re getting the first glimmers of activity on the market involving Detroit. Saturday evening, it was reported by Francys Romero that the Tigers have interest in Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. As expected sellers this July, it’s no surprise that Pittsburgh would be exploring the trade market for their defensive whiz. The surprise here is the idea that the Tigers would be interested, as the fit between Hayes and the current roster is a clunky one, to say the least.
Hayes is a former first round pick and top 100 prospect, lauded for his contact skills and the ability to really pick it at the hot corner. He’s been holding down a regular role in Pittsburgh since 2021, and in that time, proven himself to be the finest defensive third baseman on offer anywhere. According to Statcast’s Outs Above Average, he’s had no less than 90th percentile defensive value during any sample size during his MLB career, including three seasons with a 99th percentile defensive value.
The downside, and what makes Hayes an odd fit with this Tigers roster, is that he essentially can’t hit. Hayes really never got off the starting blocks offensively. So far in 2025, he’s batting just .246/.297/.304, which, along with two home runs, registers 32 percent below the average hitter, according to wRC+.
Call us old fashioned, but hitting still seems like an important part of the game.
Two skills have made Hayes a viable contributor in the batters’ box at various points during his career — hitting left-handed pitching and making hard contact. The 2023 season was a bit of a high watermark in both of these regards; he hit nearly .300 versus southpaws that year and Statcast reported high percentile notches for his hard hit rate and average exit velocity. Everything has trended in the wrong direction since then, and he’s now even more susceptible to lefties than righties while also failing to put the ball in play with any striking batted ball metrics.
One factor that could draw Harris to the idea of trading for Hayes is his contract situation. After signing an inexpensive extension that bought out his arbitration years and would have made him a Pirate through at least 2029, he’s now cost controlled for several more years. Ownership and management has been hesitant to throw much money at this roster, being outbid for top flight free agents and rebuffed in their negotiations with current Tigers stars. In contrast, Hayes’ contract has an average annual value of $8.75M and comes with a team option for 2030.
Further appeal may be tied up in the fact that Hayes will almost certainly come cheaply in the final terms of trade. A reticence to pay anything even resembling top dollar for on-field talent makes building from within a crucially important element to Detroit’s future success, and therefore, parting with prospect talent especially painful. Naturally, adding a piece for the playoff run without coughing up much in return would be a pleasant thought for Harris and his staff, and frankly the Pirates should be begging someone to take the contract off their hands at this point.
The Tigers could certainly show interest in a player like Hayes, who still makes plenty of contact, if they believed they could sort out his bat path to start getting the ball off the ground more often. This, along with a lack of walks, is the problem with Hayes whole offensive profile. If they could get him hitting they’d have a pretty nice lefty mashing, slick fielding bench player.
Still, this whole rumor is mildly deranged at best.
The reason this would never happen is the lack of flexibility. The Tigers would have to take on a multi-year deal with no ability to option Hayes if things aren’t working. As a project at the Triple-A level, trying to turn him into a slick fielding lefty masher seems at least within the realm of possibility. But even if they didn’t have to give up anything of note, taking on this contact and being locked into having Hayes on the bench is a non-starter, especially in the middle of the season. Perhaps the idea is slightly more reasonable in the offseason when a team could work with their new player without having to play him in major league games.
Instead, if the Tigers were to pilfer some talent from the Pirates, they’ll be looking to raid their bullpen to shore up the Tigers’ periodically shaky unit. Two options that spring to mind are Caleb Ferguson and David Bednar. Ferguson has been the best most successful pitcher at limiting hard contact in the sport this year, but would be a pure rental. That too does not sound very Harris-y. If he’s trading prospects, he’s going to want more team control coming back than a rental offers. Bednar is the Pittsburgh closer, and would come with some additional club control past this season, but would extract a much heftier package from the Tigers in return.