The Pittsburgh Pirates might line up with the New York Yankees as trade partners for Gerrit Cole. A consummated trade by the Bronx Bombers may affect that thinking.
Pittsburgh Pirates fans waiting for the Yankees and Bucs to consummate a potential Gerrit Cole trade likely raised an eyebrow during day two of the winter meetings when the Yankees traded third baseman Chase Headley to the San Diego Padres.
#Yankees are getting back outfielder Jabari Blash for Headley/Mitchell. This feels like NYY salary dump, tying Mitchell's upside arm to get #Padres to take all of Headley's $13M pact.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 12, 2017
Here’s why this matters to the Pittsburgh Pirates. We have previously heard that the Pirates would like to structure a deal around major-league ready third baseman Miguel Andujar, the fourth-ranked third base prospect overall by MLB Pipeline. Andujar certainly looked capable of hanging at the plate in the major leagues last season, albeit in a very short seven at bat sample size. Nevertheless, he did not look overmatched, and the Yankees might be ready to roll with Andujar in 2017.
With Andujar perhaps needed in 2018, could the Pirates pivot to Clint Frazier instead? For more on that, see the link below.
Then again, New York might look for a third base stopgap out on the market until they begin their pursuit of Manny Machado in earnest after 2018 concludes.
In moving Headley, the Yankees are now firmly locked into the starting pitching market, which may work in the Pirates’ favor.
As usual with everything in the winter meetings, deals develop slowly at times. Perhaps this move indicates the Yankees are ready to move.
RELATED: Potential Pirates trade target profile: Clint Frazier
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