This Insane Stat About Pirates Closer Felipe Vazquez Proves They Should've Traded Him

Unsurprisingly, the Pittsburgh Pirates front office made the wrong decision leading up to the MLB trade deadline in back-to-back years. Last season, they traded MLB-ready young talent for a former ace that has been awful in a Pirates uniform.

This year, despite the team going nowhere, they held onto closer Felipe Vazquez rather than dealing him for top-level prospects.

Since July 26, Vaquez has thrown a total of only three innings for a Pirates team that has gone 4-24 since the All-Star break. A lockdown closer on a bad team is the definition of useless and unnecessary.

Vaquez has been rotting on a Pirates team that has absolutely collapsed. He is one of the best closers in baseball, but has no role on a team that is not winning any games. That's why the Mariners were willing to trade Edwin Diaz last winter, but not Mitch Haniger.

Pittsburgh discussed their ace reliever with other teams leading up to the deadline but couldn't find a club that would match the high asking price. The Pirates refused to make a deal with Los Angeles if the Dodgers didn't give up their top prospect.

While few should blame Pittsburgh for demanding a lot, general manager Neal Huntington should have been adaptable enough to accept a package of secondary prospects in the Dodgers deep system knowing that those guys are probably better than most teams top prospects.

Acquiring young talent for the future could have allowed Huntington to sell hope to the fans and ownership, potentially delaying his firing. Instead, Pirates fans are stuck watching awful baseball that has seen the team's best player rot away in the bullpen.