RHP Gerrit Cole (3.111 years), projected $4.2 million: Despite four stints on the DL this season for problems with his throwing arm and a delayed start in spring training because of a rib injury, Cole still finished the season with the third-highest ERA among Pirates’ pitchers who started at least 10 games (3.88). He has remained healthy in only one of his first three full seasons (2014), and he earned an All-Star nod and finished fourth in the Cy Young voting that year.
There’s a high expectation for Cole to return as the Pirates’ ace in 2017, and given the career comparisons his numbers have generated, it is a reasonable expectation. Per Baseball Reference, Cole’s career numbers are on par with Texas’s Yu Darvish after four seasons, but his top comparison after age 25 is Washington’s Steven Strasburg. I previously outlined how the Pirates would hate to face a similar situation on the injury front with Cole as the Nationals have with Strasburg. But injury concerns aside, Cole’s contract is one of the discounts the Pirates will get this season for the expected production.
LHP Jeff Locke (4.020 years), projected $4.2 million: An extra year of service time is the only distinction that puts Locke’s projected earnings on par with Cole’s, and that is where it also ends. Locke’s eventual banishment to the bullpen in August (which most would agree came far too late) should serve as the final chapter in Jeff Locke’s time as a Pirate. Since his All-Star season of 2013, Locke has gotten progressively worse over time, and with a thoroughly fungible 0.2 fWAR last season, he should be a non-tender candidate to make way for a cheaper and potentially more effective rotation option.
Next, we will look at two ‘good soldiers,’ players who have been critical to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rebirth. But is that enough?
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