So far it has been a very quiet start to the Winter Meetings for Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington. The only noise created has involved right-handed starter Gerrit Cole.
And things are starting to get louder.
We’ve already looked at how the Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners would matchup as trade partners for Cole, but you can now throw in the Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers for Cole’s services, along with the New York Yankees, who appear to be the front runners at the moment.
Here’s the latest on Cole.
Yankees with big offer?
Joel Sherman of the New York Post brought up a package of Clint Frazier, Chance Adams, Tyler Wade and maybe another arm could be in play for Cole.
If that was the case, Cole should have been on a plane for New York before Yankees general manager Brian Cashman finished his sentence.
That’s not likely to happen and we are hearing that the Pirates are enamored with left-handed pitching prospect Justus Sheffield.
Personally if they could get a deal that involved Frazier and one of Sheffield/Adams plus another piece then this is as close to a no-brainer as possible.
Pull the trigger on that one.
Brewers in on Cole?
You would hate to see Cole go to a division rival, but it looks as if the Milwaukee Brewers are also kicking the tires on him.
According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the two teams were involved in discussions yesterday involving Cole and possibly Josh Harrison as well.
#Brewers talked to Pirates today. Pittsburgh is listening on Gerrit Cole but not sure they want to deal him. Doing it inside division might be tough to do. But #Brewers do like to think big. Interesting.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) December 12, 2017
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2B Josh Harrison might be available from Pirates as well and #Brewers are open to doing something there, so might have checked in on him as well.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) December 12, 2017
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In terms of a possible return from Milwaukee, the Brewers are actively shopping Domingo Santana, who I like a lot. However, the Pirates aren’t going to make a play for Santana as a fourth outfielder. If no Andrew McCutchen deal is on the table then it makes little sense to target a starting outfielder.
The Brewers do have a couple of intriguing young arms, most notably Josh Hader, who would look nice in a Pirates uniform.
They also have a couple good young outfielders on the 40-man roster in Lewis Brinson and Brett Phillips, both of which should intrigue the Bucs.
I doubt the Brewers would part with Brinson, who is their No.1 rated prospect, but a package centering on him and Hader would certainly make me think about trading Cole inside the division.
Milwaukee has some good young talent in the minors, which is a major reason why they seem to be leapfrogging the Pirates at the moment.
That list includes: RHP Luis Ortiz, RHP Brandon Woodruff, 2B Keston Hiura, 3B Lucas Erceg and others.
However if I were the Bucs, I would have to get Brinson and Hader back in any deal for Cole and that is unlikely to happen.
Orioles in the mix as well
Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Baltimore is also in on Cole.
The Orioles are shopping Manny Machado.
Unfortunately the Pirates won’t be involved in those discussions.
I really like Dylan Bundy as well, but Baltimore won’t include him in a deal.
Truth be told, there’s not much on the Orioles active roster that excites me other than Machado and Bundy and their farm system isn’t very good either.
Outfield prospect Austin Hays and SS/3B Ryan Mountcastle would be at the top of any list. Left-handed pitching prospect DL Hall also is intriguing, but it says a lot how bare the cupboard is in terms of pitching for the Orioles as Hall was last year’s first-round pick and he already has leapfrogged all the other Orioles pitching prospects so he is the only real arm in the Baltimore system I would be excited about.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the Yankees still matchup as the Pirates best trade partner for Cole.
The question is whether or not Huntington will maximize Cole’s value in a deal or settle for what he thinks is the best of several mediocre offers.
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