The Pirates made two trades before Monday's non-waiver trade deadline, dealing an impending free-agent reliever and adding another.
The club sent left-hander Tony Watson to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor leaguers. They also acquired righty Joaquin Benoit from the Philadelphia Phillies, sending a minor league pitcher back.
They had been fielding offers for Watson and righty reliever Juan Nicasio while also considering the addition of relief pitchers under team control past this season, according to major league sources.
Watson, 32, and Nicasio, 30, are both free agents after this season.
Watson has a 3.66 ERA and 1.52 WHIP. He lost the closer's role to Felipe Rivero in mid-June and since that time has had a 2.66 ERA in 23 appearances.
Infielder Oneil Cruz and right-hander Angel German come to the Pirates from Los Angeles. Cruz, 18, has a .293 on-base percentage and eight home runs in the low-A Midwest League. He plays third base and shortstop. German, 21, has a 1.91 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 33 innings in 21 relief appearances at low-A.
Benoit has a 4.07 ERA in 42 innings for the Phillies this season. He signed with Philadelphia last offseason on a one-year, $7.5 million deal, coming off a year in which he had a 2.81 ERA in 48 innings for Seattle and Toronto. The Pirates will be Benoit's eighth major league team.
McGarry, 23, had a 1.34 ERA in 40 1/3 innings for Class High A Bradenton this season. He was drafted by the Pirates in the eighth round in 2015 out of Florida Atlantic.
