On the heels of acquiring reliever Joe Blanton early this morning, the Pirates have made another trade to bolster their bullpen by exchanging AA OF/SS JaCoby Jones with the Detroit Tigers for RHP Joakim Soria.
Soria anchored the back-end of the Tigers bullpen posting a 3-1 record with 23 saves in 26 opportunities while holding a 2.85 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 41 innings of work.
Soria is in the final year of a 3 year / $14.5 million contract and is owed just over $2.5 million for the remainder of the season and is most-likely a two month rental for the home stretch of the 2015 season and possibly the postseason.
The trade helps solidify a struggling Pirates bullpen that has allowed 16 earned runs in 12 games since the All-Star break.
Jones posted a .253/.313/.396 slash line with a .708 OPS, 10 home runs and 58 RBI in 93 games with High-A Bradenton before being promoted to AA Altoona last week. He was the Pirates 3rd round pick in the 2013 MLB Draft.
The Pirates also made another minor move on Thursday sending AAA SS Justin Sellers to the Chicago White Sox for either cash or a player-to-be-named-later.
Pittsburgh still has two shortstop prospects in their top 30 — #10 Cole Tucker and #8 Kevin Newman — allowing the organization to make these moves.
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