Pirates acquire LHP Sisk among prospects in Falter, Rogers trades

The Pirates’ busy Trade Deadline went all the way to the wire, trading Bailey Falter to the Royals, as well as dealing recently acquired left-hander Taylor Rogers to the Cubs.

In exchange, the Pirates received prospects. From Kansas City, the return is left-hander Evan Sisk and first baseman Callan Moss. For Rogers, it is outfielder Ivan Brethowr. None of them rank inside their previous organization’s top 30 prospects.

TRADE DETAILS
Pirates get: LHP Evan Sisk, 1B Callan Moss
Royals get: LHP Bailey Falter

TRADE DETAILS
Pirates get: OF Ivan Brethowr
Cubs get: LHP Taylor Rogers

Sisk is the only one of the trio to have any Major League experience, making five appearances with the Royals this season. In that cameo, he struck out 11 over 5 1/3 innings while allowing one earned run. A sidearm lefty, his fastball averages roughly 90 mph and pitches off of a sinker, four-seamer, slider, cutter and curve. The 28-year-old southpaw had a 3.77 ERA in 31 games with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate in Omaha.

Moss, 21, was an undrafted free agent last year but has put together a quality offensive season in Single-A. The right-handed first baseman is slashing .270/.372/.418 with seven home runs and 14 stolen bases.

Falter was 7-5 with a 3.73 ERA over 113 1/3 innings with the Pirates, though he was prone to inconsistent starts and had poor strikeout numbers (70 on the year). That made him a non-tender candidate this winter, and given other starting pitching options in the Majors and upper levels of the system, the Bucs opted to make a move now.

Brethowr, 22, was a seventh-round pick in 2024. He has shown patience in High-A ball, drawing a walk in one-sixth of his plate appearances this year, slashing .221/.398/.312. The right-handed-hitting outfielder has also swiped 25 bases.

Rogers was acquired Wednesday from the Reds as part of the return for Ke’Bryan Hayes. He did not appear in a game with the Pirates.

Pirates closer David Bednar was also traded to the Yankees earlier Thursday, while Ke’Bryan Hayes, Caleb Ferguson and Adam Frazier were dealt earlier this Deadline.

That made for an active Deadline, though in some ways, perhaps fewer moves than what was originally expected. Mitch Keller and Dennis Santana, two players with team control beyond 2025, remained, but so did three notable players set for free agency: Shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, outfielder Tommy Pham and starter Andrew Heaney.

“We didn't feel like we had to trade anybody,” general manager Ben Cherington said over Zoom after the Deadline passed. “There was no sort of requirement to trade anyone. We were going to take it a case at a time.”

In the case of Kiner-Falefa, Cherington said there was less urgency to move him once they knew the Hayes trade was done. Extra playing time was being created in the infield, and they felt there was ample opportunity.

“Izzy's been a really solid, dependable player for us at shortstop,” Cherington said. “He plays his tail off every game. Sets a great example for younger players. Obviously I know I talk about building towards the best team we possibly can in 2026. Tomorrow night's game in Denver is important to us, too. We're not going to make a trade just to make one.”

Cherington also cited Pham’s work ethic as an example for young players to follow, plus that they didn’t feel they needed to trade two starters after the Falter deal.

Leading up to the Deadline, Cherington stated the goal was to use the week as an opportunity to help build the best team for 2026. He felt the Pirates took a step toward doing that.

“We [wanted] to accomplish three things,” Cherington said. “One is we want to add more young talent in the organization, talent that we can grow with. Number two is to create the right opportunities for August and September for players and pitchers that we believe have the best chance to be part of that team in 2026 that we're building toward. And then finally, if the opportunities were out there that made sense, create some maneuverability, some options for us this offseason where we can reallocate payroll, perhaps, into other parts of the team.

“We wanted to try to accomplish parts of all three of those things and we believed we did. We certainly have more work to do once it hits November."