The Hot Stove is finally heating up. Is the Pirates ace on the move?
According to Buster Olney of ESPN, the New York Yankees have a strong interest in Pittsburgh Pirates RHP, Gerrit Cole. Not exactly shocking news! A baseball team has an interest in a pitcher that fairly recently finished third in Cy Young voting and seems poised for a bounce-back campaign in 2018. However, there is something to this rumor.
The Pirates are willing to listen to offers for Gerrit Cole; the Yankees and Pirates match up well for potential deals at this juncture, as sources confirm; Brian Cashman and Neal Huntington have an extensive trade history. Time will tell.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 11, 2017
The Pittsburgh Pirates are coming off a terrible 2017 and judging by the current makeup of the roster, the team seems to be in the middle of a youth movement. Outside of Cole and Ivan Nova, the pitching staff is extremely young and the team looks like they are okay with that. Gerrit Cole only has a couple years left of team control and his agent is Scott Boras. It may be in the team’s best interest to shop him while he still has value.
Rob Biertempfel is the Trib-Live has also heard some rumblings about Gerrit Cole. According to him, the Pirates are listening to offers but not selling. You may remember that during the Winter Meetings of 2016 the Pirates said the exact same thing about Andrew McCutchen. The team ended up not trading him, obviously. Which means the Pirates likely won’t part with Cole for anything less than their asking price.
For a team that seems to be in the beginning stages of at best a minor rebuild, the team should be willing to listen to offers about pretty much all short-term assets but it seems the current mood is that Gerrit Cole will likely remain a Pittsburgh Pirates. However, a lot can change very quickly, especially at the Winter Meetings. If the Yankees do make some crazy offer, the Pirates likely will take it. Gerrit Cole can either help the Pirates win a few more games in 2018 or set them up for the future by giving them a solid haul of young, controllable talent.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are clearly in a transitional period at the moment. The team has some good pieces that can either help them compete in 2018 or trade chips that will start the rebuild for the future. The Pirates need to go one way or another. Being stuck in baseball limbo doesn’t do them much good. They either need to rebuild for the future or go for one last run in 2018. No more half measures.
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