In the game of cat and mouse that is trade negotiations of professional sports, the Pittsburgh Pirates are responding to rumors that the Dodgers are interested in their left handed reliever, Felipe Vazquez.

With the only trade deadline of the season coming up on July 31st, we are only a few weeks away from seeing if Andrew Friedman can shore up the bullpen, the most glaring weakness an otherwise dominant season for the Dodgers.

The Pirates GM Neal Huntington gave an interview today on their local radio station addressing the rumors. Obviously, there are two sides to this message where one is to calm their local fanbase down and the other is to tell the Dodgers they’re going to want more than just the rumored Keibert Ruiz package.

“Felipe Vazquez is, in our minds, one of the best, if not the best young left-handed reliever in the game. He has the potential to contribute to us for this and four more years. Our expectation and anticipation is that Felipe will be closing out playoff games, be it this year or in the future with us.” – The Fan 93.7 FM

Vazquez signed a $22M four year contract in January of 2019 with $10M team options for a 5th and 6th season. Vazquez is current 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA and 19 saves.

With the Pirates in an amazingly packed wild card race where they are only 3.5 games out of the wild card spot, the next few weeks of baseball could determine if the Pirates are going to give up and trade Vazquez or keep him and go for it.

What do you think about Vazquez’s value? What kind of prospect equity would you give up to add his arm to this year’s bullpen?